“The worst it’s ever been”: Hamilton’s front wing headaches during Spanish GP

30 comments on ““The worst it’s ever been”: Hamilton’s front wing headaches during Spanish GP”

1. 

   Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
   4th June 2025, 15:32

   He qualified well in P5, ahead of Leclerc, I wonder what happened overnight because he looked slow and only got slower as the race progressed.

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   1. 

      Edvaldo
      4th June 2025, 16:34

      Probably has to do with the soft tyres. His pace was much more comparable with mediums.

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   2. 

      Kringle
      4th June 2025, 21:53

      Could it not be to do with having many many kgs of less fuel as the race progressed, and the weight balance shifting forward slightly as the fuel ran down. That’d induce front graining and more understeer.

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   3. 

      pcxmac (@pcxmac)
      5th June 2025, 22:02

      Hamilton is carrying dead weight in the form of a race engineer.

      The more I watch F1 the last few years the more I am recognizing the teams don’t actually care if they win or not (except for maybe RBR). But even still they clearly don’t care about their #2 if it means getting the driver’s championship.

      This is what F1 has turned to, under the watchful eyes of billionaire investors, something of a show that really isn’t competition as much as it is gimmick narrative tricks like ‘upgrade this’ or ‘upgrade that’, this upgrade will change the face of the championship, etc etc etc

      Its just ridiculous. Ferrari, Mercedes, basically manufacturers don’t care about winning or losing in F1, they care more about the ratings and the valuation of the spectacle. It’s just mind numbing marketing exercise, like a really long commercial that people have to pay ridiculous sums for. Kind of perverted.

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2. 

   roadrunner (@roadrunner)
   4th June 2025, 16:14

   I don’t think it was that bad honestly. It was the first stint when he lost out the most in comparison to Leclerc who was on (almost) new tyres. During the second stint it was the usual 2-3 tenth he was missing. On the third stint on fresher tyres he was a bit faster than Leclerc who was also complaining about the balance getting increasingly worse. On the final short stint on softs both the Ferrari were just slow. Leclerc benefitted from the shenanigans behind him, otherwise he’d been under threat too.
   It seemed that Ferrari were struggling with tyre degregation more than usual and couldn’t maximise the potential of the soft tyre. They spent most of the race on mediums whereas their opponents did long, fast and consistent stints on softs.

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3. 

   Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
   4th June 2025, 18:05

   Lewis is struggling to get to grips with the car to be honest. It varies wildly. But then the car itself seems to vary a lot between races or even sessions at races. Due to the tyres or weather perhaps?

   I think the best Lewis can hope for in 2025 is maybe a podium later on. But even that seems an ask for him. I hope he can make it work as it must be hugely disappointing.

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   1. 

      barnibbles
      4th June 2025, 20:08

      He got a sprint win. That’s pretty good.

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      1. 

         pcxmac (@pcxmac)
         5th June 2025, 22:05

         yeah, he got a little lucky and his race engineer couldn’t throw him under the bus by giving him a bad race strategy, ie HAM just did himself and won it.

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4. 

   André
   4th June 2025, 18:10

   Two things puzzle me the most. One is how going back 4-5 clicks on the front wing was going to improve from going forward by 2 clicks. Either the settings were a lot more extreme than what he expected, or he completely overshot by his own choice. The other is the amount of driver coaching. I’ve never heard Lewis getting so much coaching during the race. If there was anyone who instinctively knew how to get speed out of an F1 car, it was him. Seems like he has completely unlearned how to drive, or the only way how he can feel and trust these cars is by driving them outside his comfort zone.

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   1. 

      entah
      5th June 2025, 14:56

      Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton continues to work away at his own struggles in adapting to a Ferrari, which he’s finding very different to the Mercedes cars he’s driven for so many years. The main area of difference in how the car behaves is in braking and corner entry.

      Hamilton gave a summary of this adaptation process in Bahrain, saying: “I think what’s clear is, as humans, I guess we get really stuck in our ways. I think I’ve been driving a certain style and a certain way with the same team for such a long time, and I’ve moved to a new car and it requires such a different driving style and settings.

      “I’m using engine braking, which we’ve never used in my previous years. Much different brakes. This car just requires a much different driving style so I’m adjusting to that and I think I am slowly getting it into my head.”

      source: TECH WEEKLY: The key differences between how Hamilton and Leclerc are driving the Ferrari – and the changes made to help the Briton adapt

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   2. 

      Ajaxn
      8th June 2025, 17:13

      Hamilton shouldn’t have been calling for a specific change, he should be able explain the problem to his race engineer, and have them come up with a solution to correct the fault.

      He didn’t get that, he had to proscribe his idea of the remedy. This was a new spec car which we heard from Leclerc gives them a very narrow driving window. Hamilton only had the simulation of setup to go by, he would not have fully tested the car to know how to corrects the faults he was experiancing.

      He asked for what he believed might work, but it seemed to have made the car worse in the end.

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5. 

   Todfod (@todfod)
   4th June 2025, 18:16

   The conversation between Hamilton and Adami is hilarious.
   Adami – P4
   Hamilton – What?
   Lol
   Hamilton – My tyres are graining
   Adami – Verstappen 21.0
   Hamilton – My rears are sliding
   Adami – Piastri 19.6
   LMAO

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6. 

   BenjaminS (@benihana)
   4th June 2025, 18:37

   I dunno, when I read other drivers radio they seem more informative that Hamilton does. There is more complaining than trying to at least resolve the issues using some of the info that Adami is giving him. There is information and then there is complaining for the sake of.

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7. 

   PlosslF1 (@f1-ploss)
   4th June 2025, 20:12

   Is it just me or have all the last few+ years races been about tyres and not actually giving it full beans… because of the tyres?

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   1. 

      MichaelN
      4th June 2025, 21:44

      No, that’s exactly what it is. The car that best keeps the tyres performing is generally the one that wins. That’s also why the qualifying is so close, and then the races are often quite boring because the difference in tyre handling just multiplies lap after lap.

      The difference in lap times between qualifying and the race is also huge. Part of this is fuel and normal wear, but part of it is due to the drivers all pacing themselves to eek the most out of a set of tyres. A three stop like Verstappen did last weekend almost never works, and it’s pretty much always faster to go for longer but slower stints.

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   2. 

      Andre
      5th June 2025, 10:06

      Ever since Pirelli came in, F1 became a tyre formula.

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   3. 

      Ajaxn
      5th June 2025, 19:28

      Nope. The last couple of years has been about grip, relying on ground effect for grip.
      This leads to the car sliding about and then tire wear.

      Thankfully, this is the last year for this experiment, and next year we should see the cars going ‘full beans’.

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8. 

   An Sionnach
   4th June 2025, 21:25

   He should read his rating on this site. That might cheer him up!

   Again, I’m going to speculate that Lewis will be much better once the ground effect cars are gone.

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   1. 

      David BR (@david-br)
      4th June 2025, 23:40

      He can’t get much worse. I say that as a LH fan and recognizing that his ‘worse’ level is still higher that many of the other drivers on the grid. But it’s painful (clearly for him too).

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      1. 

         An Sionnach
         5th June 2025, 2:17

         Let’s see. I’m playing a broken record, but Lauda also hated ground effect cars and found them terribly uncomfortable.

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         1. 

            Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
            5th June 2025, 8:56

            You know you make a very good point about Lauda and the ground effect cars. He was a different driver when he returned after his break in 1982.

            This combined with a slight age related decline, must I think be Lewis’ problem. He has never really looked the same driver since 2022. Maybe 2026 will see him back on the pace or more able to compete.

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            1. 

               An Sionnach
               5th June 2025, 21:20

               Lauda stated his dislike for these cars in his autobiography. He was as fit as ever, but didn’t get on with them. Once they were gone and he was in a fast car he was able to pip Prost and get his third championship.

               Whatever happens this year Lewis should keep himself fit and ready for next year. I don’t know what will be the car to have. I’m doubtful that any engine will be amazing given the rules. Perhaps McLaren due to the non-engine excellence they have been showing lately?
            2. 

               An Sionnach
               5th June 2025, 22:26

               That said, Lauda still won two races in 1982 and wasn’t far off Prost. He more disliked the cars than wasn’t able to drive them.

               He was well beaten by Prost in ’83, when ground effect was banned, but famously beat him by a half point in ’84, before losing by a huge margin in’ 85. Many technical failures didn’t help, but he could no longer find the time like Prost could.
   2. 

      Edvaldo
      5th June 2025, 2:56

      I think Hamilton was still pretty good until USA and Mexico 2023. It was that race in which he pushed Max but then got DSQ due to plank wear.

      After that he entered this current phase, slower than his teammate most of the time, not qualifying very well, giving sad interviews, and now even his race pace is dwindling.

      Still, he brings the points and is very solid, but a driver can’t be WDC driving like he’s driving, he definitely lost his edge in the past couple of years.

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      1. 

         Esploratore (@esploratore1)
         5th June 2025, 4:19

         Ahh, I remember quite well that race, indeed a good performance to even challenge verstappen that season, and we know how little difference on performance those technical infringiments make.

         I remember a few good performances since, like the sprint win this year, silverstone last year, or for example a good recovery in perhaps vegas, from 10th to 2nd, that race where mercedes got a 1-2, spa was also a good race, but I suppose there’s been more meh than good races.

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      2. 

         Ajaxn
         5th June 2025, 19:30

         You mean he was ok up until he annouced he would be moving to Ferrari and then he started losing to his team mate aas Mercedes looked to his successors.

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9. 

   JMDan (@danmar)
   5th June 2025, 9:40

   Maybe he should use one of Ferrari’s road cars.

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10. 

    Dave
    5th June 2025, 21:21

    Seb seemed to have the same problems when he went from Red Bull to Ferrari.
    He would spin out for no apparent reason. It happened several times.

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11. 

    DAH
    6th June 2025, 2:24

    Looking at the picture in this article, the headline should have read:
    “Hamilton humiliated in the second fasted car for the seventh time in seven races, this time by Nico Hulkenberg in the back of field running Sauber!”

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    1. 

       Norbi
       10th June 2025, 11:21

       What are you on? Second fastest car in seven races…. Struggle is there obviously, but lets stick to the truth…

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