Lewis Hamilton Las Vegas GP woes trigger ‘urgent’ Ferrari investigation call

Bernie Collins has suggested that Ferrari “urgently” investigates what happened to Lewis Hamilton on the medium tyres in Las Vegas, as she believe “something has gone wrong”.

Hamilton ran the medium tyres in his second and final stint, but was unable to make any impression on the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg. Hamilton cut a devasted figure after the race, and Collins, the former McLaren senior performance engineer and ex-Aston Martin strategy chief, believes Ferrari needs to take a deeper look.

Lewis Hamilton suffers at Las Vegas GP

On the face of it, Hamilton delivered a strong recovery drive at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. After qualifying last for the first time in his career, Hamilton – from P19 on the grid due to Yuki Tsunoda’s pit-lane start – worked his way up to tenth at the chequered flag. That became P8 when both McLarens were disqualified post-race.

But, Hamilton’s mood was far from positive when he climbed out of the Ferrari SF-25. He told Sky F1 that this is his “worst season ever”, and claimed to the BBC that he is “not looking forward” to next year.

Collins, on Sky F1 punditry duties in Las Vegas, pointed to Hamilton’s time on the medium tyre as a major problem, so much so that she suggests Ferrari “urgently” investigate what happened.

“It was always going to be a tough race from P19, let’s be honest,” she began post-race.

“But the Ferrari did look strong in the dry yesterday. He had actually a very good first stint on the hard tyre. Ran a very long stint, looked quite good. Attempted to undercut Hulkenberg, who the Ferrari should easily be able to have the pace on.

“And the medium tyre just went from bad to worse for Lewis. The first initial laps in the medium were slow. Hulkenberg protected the undercut, so he’s behind again. And then the final stint on the medium, he’s dropping from Hulkenberg.

“So something has gone wrong on that medium stint for Lewis, and that’s why he’s so deflated, because he’s got out of the car, not challenging, having a terrible final few laps. So that’s his lasting memory of that race. And that is something that they need to look at urgently.”

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It is not the first time in F1 2025 that Hamilton has spoken bluntly about himself. He said after the race in Brazil that his “dream” Ferrari move had become a “nightmare”, while back in Bahrain, he claimed that he was “not doing a good enough job”. He even suggested Ferrari “change driver” after Hungarian GP qualifying.

However, Jenson Button, Hamilton’s former teammate, said that the Las Vegas aftermath was the “first time” he has actually seen Hamilton “seriously deflated” in what has been an underwhelming first Ferrari season.

That being said, Button stressed that a key strength of Hamilton’s is bouncing back at the next race.

“I feel Lewis has carried himself really well this year,” said Button, the 2009 world champion. “It’s been a very difficult season for someone of his calibre, to have difficult races, and he’s carried himself so well, and this is the first time I feel that we’ve really seen him seriously deflated.

“And it gets to you. Mentally, it’s draining when you have a few bad races, and it felt like it was on the up, and this might be just one bad race, and it might be back for the next run, and I hope so.

“He’s very good at that. If he has a bad race, he’s very good at turning it around in the next one, so it won’t weigh on him after this weekend, but it’s a tough moment for him and his career right now.”

With two rounds to go, Hamilton is 74 points behind teammate Charles Leclerc in the Drivers’ Championship standings.

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