Lewis Hamilton. Photo supplied by Ferrari

F1 News: Just like at Mercedes, Hamilton trying to blame his Ferrari

George Russell mopped the floor with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, where Hamilton tried to blame the car. Now Charles Leclerc is mopping the floor with Hamilton at Ferrari, and the Brit is again attempting to blame the car.

(GMM) Lewis Hamilton says he suspects his car is carrying a flaw that is not also present on the sister Ferrari raced by Charles Leclerc.

It is well known that both Ferrari drivers are keen to get a floor upgrade up and running as soon as possible, to rectify an issue with the current specification of the 2025 machine.

“The floor is ready for Bahrain,” La Gazzetta dello Sport reports, “but (Frederic) Vasseur and (Loic) Serra would like to wait.”

They are reportedly arguing behind the scenes that the initial goal should be to fully understand the current specification. “The decision will be made by Thursday,” reported technical editor Paolo Filisetti.

Hamilton, however, is suggesting that his pace deficit to Leclerc at present is a different issue. “I’m losing a little over a tenth per lap with this problem,” said the seven time world champion.

“In the first three races there has been a small deficit between both sides of the garage in one element of the car,” Hamilton added. “It’s good at least to know, even though the team doesn’t know why it’s happening.

“When a new component arrives, hopefully it’ll disappear, and it’ll be the same on both cars,” the 40-year-old man said.

Former F1 driver Christijan Albers says the performance gap between Hamilton and Leclerc has been surprising so far. “Hamilton drove a hopeless race,” he told De Telegraaf after the Japanese GP.

“I expected much more from him.”

Team boss Vasseur thinks the discrepancy between Hamilton and Leclerc is more about setup. “The balance, therefore, is related to their (setup) decisions,” he said.

“We’re continuing to explore the new car and are taking different approaches to adapt to the drivers. I think the situation will be different in Bahrain because we were there for three days last month.”

The Italian press, however, is already worried about the prospect for the 2025 world championship.

“Barcelona is the watershed weekend,” La Repubblica newspaper declared. “Either we fight for the win there, or we just develop the car for 2026.”

Lewis Hamilton is missing that 50hp advantage Mercedes gave him for all those years when he won so many races. Image Supplied by Ferrari