Sam Bird saw one key Ferrari issue Lewis Hamilton is ‘really struggling’ with at Mexican Grand Prix

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Ferrari ace Lewis Hamilton set the second-fastest lap time in the final practice session for the 2025 F1 Mexico City Grand Prix this Saturday, but Sam Bird saw a big problem.

The 40-year-old has grown into the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez event after Ferrari put Antonio Fuoco in his car in FP1 on Friday to fulfil part of their rookie quota. Hamilton set the fifth-best FP2 lap time with a 1:17.692, and he improved his time to a 1:16.978 for P2 in FP3.

Hamilton was 0.345 seconds away from the best lap, as McLaren’s Lando Norris topped the FP3 timesheet at the Mexico City GP with a 1:16.633 lap. He was also 0.300s off the pace, as Max Verstappen was fastest in FP2 at the Mexico City GP with the Red Bull driver’s 1:17.392.

Ferrari will now hope to see Hamilton continue to improve his times around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in qualifying for the Mexico City GP. The seven-time champion has not qualified higher than P5 through the past eight rounds, including two Q2 exits and a Q1 exit.

Sam Bird saw Lewis Hamilton ‘really struggling’ under braking in FP3 for the Mexico City Grand Prix

But while Hamilton managed to improve his lap time to rank P2 in FP3, as Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc came P4 with a 1:17.199, Bird noticed the Briton frequently struggled to get his SF-25 stopped under braking. Hamilton often had to visit the run-off areas during FP3.

READ MORE: Everything to know about the Mexico City Grand Prix, including past winners

Hamilton first ran deep under braking at Turn 4 just seven minutes into FP3 while on his first flying lap. The record 104-time polesitter also had to go onto the grass at T1 after locking his front-right tyre minutes later, before also visiting the T4 escape route with 43 minutes to go.

“That’s two laps in a row that he’s had difficulty with the retardation of that Ferrari,” Bird said on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2 (25/10, 18:39) about Hamilton’s lock-ups during FP3 for the Mexico City GP on Saturday. “It looks like he’s really struggling to get the car stopped.

“Front locking going into Turn 1, and I don’t know whether it was front-axle issues into Turn 4 on the previous lap. An immediate front lock as he started to brake into Turn 1, the front just wasn’t happy.

“He’s had to release the brake pedal, otherwise that would have been an enormous flat spot. He’s taken to the grass, and he does have a small flat spot on the front right to add to the woes.”

Lewis Hamilton will hope he can avoid a third-straight P6 qualifying result in Mexico City

Hamilton ventured off the circuit early on during FP3 with his lock-up at Turn 1 that instantly caught Bird’s attention. Yet that mistake was not severe enough to thwart his session, as the two-time Mexico City GP winner managed to slow his car to only use the edge of the run-off.

But locking up at T1 shortly afterwards proved more substantial, as Hamilton flat-spotted his front-right tyre and needed to go through the grass before returning to the circuit. His third trip off the road in the space of just 10 minutes also saw Hamilton have to abort T4 entirely.

Given Hamilton still managed to go on and improve his lap time to finish FP3 for the Mexico City GP in P2, he will now hope he has found a way to manage the retardation of his Ferrari under braking ahead of qualifying. Hamilton scored pole for the 2016 Mexican GP, but only qualified P6 in 2023 and 2024 with Mercedes before moving to Maranello in the 2025 term.