Lewis Hamilton reveals improving his race pace is the key to turn around his debut season with Ferrari, after the seven-time Formula 1 world champion managed to finish fourth at the 2025 Austrian GP.
The 40-year-old matched his best result of the season on Sunday, June 29 but could only finish eight seconds behind his colleague in Italian red, Charles Leclerc, who secured the final podium spot.
Whilst he did a solid job in qualifying to begin fourth, he struggled to make an impression throughout the 70-lap race and eventually languished a long way behind his teammate after Maranello denied him a chance to change his strategy.
However, it was another weekend that saw the younger racer for the Scuderia possess the advantage over the F1 veteran, who has won an impressive 105 Grand Prix in the sport, as his tough transition since departing Mercedes continues.
“I think from my side,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1, as he reveals the key to turn around his 2025 Ferrari season. “I was struggling with the balance a bit in the race and just struggling to hold on to the pace and I lost a little bit too much ground.
“But it’s something I need to work on. I had a lot of understeer in the low speed [corners] and a lot of oversteer in the high speed, so it’s like a very hard balance to run through a race.”
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Hamilton has another heated radio exchange at 2025 Austrian GP
As he tried to find a way back into the race and into the fight for the podium against his teammate, there was even time for controversy too as the Brit found himself in another tense radio exchange with his engineer.
Upon being told to box for new tyres one lap later than his teammate, shortly after running wide at Turn 3, he denied the request and insisted he wanted to go long – either to one-stop, cash in on a potential safety car or have a big tyre advantage at the end.
Yet Ricciardo Adami only insisted on pulling him in as a disgruntled Hamilton eventually complied with the orders from the pit wall, a decision that guaranteed he would only finish fourth.
With a large gap to George Russell’s Mercedes behind, which grew to over 30 seconds by the chequered flag, the talented driver was right to insist on going longer as he had nothing to lose.
Such a gamble could have allowed him to snatch a podium, or even a win if the McLarens had tangled for the lead, and if it didn’t work then he had an ample gap to pit for new rubber anyway.
It’s the latest heated moment between the driver and Adami, who previously worked for Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz, and another confusing strategic call from Ferrari considering the lack of risk.
But, from a political point of view from the team, it made sense. If Hamilton had managed to pull off the effort then it may have left Leclerc – who led his teammate for all laps bar the pit stop periods, upset at losing a free podium.
With Fred Vasseur not on the pit wall and Jerome d’Ambrosio stepping in as team boss, it’s possible the 39-year-old, who made it to F1 himself, wanted to preserve the team harmony ahead of the 2025 British GP.
