Lewis Hamilton makes F1 prediction as momentum changes in title battle

Lewis Hamilton has given Scuderia Ferrari a fairly dim prognosis for the remainder of the F1 2025 season after another disappointing weekend at the Baku City Circuit.

With the Scuderia focusing its attention on preparing for 2026, the seven-time World Champion believes it’ll be particularly challenging for Ferrari to outperform teams like McLaren and Red Bull that have more recently introduced upgrades.

Lewis Hamilton makes dim Ferrari prognosis

After Ferrari topped the timing sheets in practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, many onlookers believed that it might represent a turnaround for a team that has struggled to find race-winning pace in 2025.

Those notions were dispelled soon after, with Lewis Hamilton knocked out of qualifying in the second round and Charles Leclerc crashing during his first laps in Q3.

On race day, the best the duo were able to manage was eighth and ninth, with Hamilton attempting, but failing, to return eighth to Leclerc in the closing stages of the race. But it says a lot about the team’s season that many came away from Baku feeling that, while it wasn’t a great event for Ferrari, it wasn’t a complete disaster.

More 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix analysis:

👉 Winners and losers from the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

👉 Azerbaijan GP conclusions: Piastri SOS, Lando’s big problem, Max’s post-Horner wavelength

Speaking to media after the race, Hamilton sounded frustrated with the team’s pace, which has become a surprisingly common occurrence.

Asked if he felt Ferrari could challenge the teams closer to the front of the field, Hamilton replied, “McLaren’s been ahead all year.

“We haven’t made any steps to improve, so [we’re] a good couple of steps behind. Red Bull took an upgraded floor, I think, in the last race.

“So they’ve now picked up their pace and [you have] to expect they’re probably going to win more races.”

Those upgrades were definitely on Hamilton’s mind when he was asked about the team’s prospects in future races.

“[If] we qualify better, we’re gonna be in a much better position to race,” he pointed out.

“I mean, I would give anything for an upgrade, but obviously we don’t have that, we have to focus on next year’s car, so we just have to do better in optimising and execution.”

At this point in the season, many teams have turned their full developmental attention to crafting the machines that will conform to 2026’s all-new regulatory set. Ferrari is one such team.

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