Lewis Hamilton hasn’t had the easiest of times in his first season with Ferrari, but there are signs that things are slowly starting to come together.
The Briton has been forced to remain patient in his pursuit of a maiden podium for the Scuderia, and recently came close at the British Grand Prix on home soil.
But, a mixture of questionable strategy calls and a mistake on an outlap saw him miss out by just a few seconds. Hamilton is now on his longest run without a rostrum in his Formula 1 career.
And it’s up to Ferrari to fix that. New upgrades have worked, and there’s more to come at the last race before the summer break at Spa. They shouldn’t be too far behind McLaren now.
Ferrari have one ‘difficult’ problem on their 2025 car and it’s something that their seven-time champion driver hates. He doesn’t like their power steering.
In a bid to fix those issues, Ferrari are preparing a ‘significantly’ cheaper update to rectify the lack of feedback coming through their steering rack, particularly in high-speed corners. It could help them find even more time.

Lewis Hamilton’s average gap to pole position has decreased which shows rapid Ferrari improvements
Ferrari data highlights a critical race issue, but that’s generally where they have been strong in 2025 so far. Their issues lie elsewhere.
Hamilton, for example, has been knocked out of Q1 on two separate occasions, and hasn’t managed to start on the front row yet.
Optimising their setup for a Saturday is something they will need to work on ahead of the 2026 F1 regulations if they want to compete at the top. They can’t rely on race pace to win from the lower end of the top 10.
On a positive note, Hamilton’s average gap to pole position over the last six races has come down by nearly two tenths compared to the first six rounds of the season.
It shows that he and Ferrari are heading in the right direction, and that further upgrades provide hope that he can return to the top with them at some point.
| Race | Gap to pole position |
| Australia | 0.877 |
| China | 0.286 |
| Japan | 0.727 |
| Bahrain | 0.931 |
| Saudi Arabia | 0.907 |
| Miami | 0.802 |
| AVERAGE RACES 1-6 | 0.755 |
| Emilia Romagna | 1.095 |
| Monaco | 0.428 |
| Spain | 0.499 |
| Canada | 0.627 |
| Austria | 0.611 |
| Britain | 0.203 |
| AVERAGE RACES 7-12 | 0.577 |
READ MORE: Ferrari have now convinced Lewis Hamilton to do something he’s never liked in Formula 1
What do insiders fear about Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari?
Fortunately, Hamilton has another year on his deal, with the option to extend his stint with the Scuderia into 2027 if he would like to.
However, ‘Insiders’ fear Hamilton cannot overcome two Ferrari issues after six months with the team. The SF25 appears tricky to adapt to.
That’s where a new set of rules should help him. The 40-year-old will have been with them for over a year when the next campaign starts, and his feedback on development should have an influence on their car.
It means that 2026’s challenger should be far more tailored to his needs, and give him a better platform from which to perform from.
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
