A turning point for Hamilton? | PH Footnote
His 12-strong podium streak at home comes to an ended, but Hamilton and Ferrari may finally be gelling
Silverstone has crowned its new king. McLaren’s Lando Norris triumphed at the British Grand Prix on Sunday, becoming the 12th Brit to win on home turf in what was one of the most chaotic races of the season. Nobody was safe from Silverstone’s notoriously unpredictable weather, with sudden showers claiming all bar one of this year’s six rookies and catching out some of the grid’s most experienced drivers as well. That included four-time champ Max Verstappen, who dropped it under safety car conditions, and saw Charles Leclerc, who’s comfortably been Ferrari’s lead driver in 2025, finish 14th out of 15 runners.
As if the weather wasn’t enough to spice up the action, this year’s British Grand Prix also had its fair share of controversy. Oscar Piastri, who had led the early stages of the race, was handed a ten-second penalty for accelerating and braking ‘erratically’ under safety car conditions, essentially handing the lead over to Norris after the final round of pit stops. It appeared to be a slam-dunk penalty from the TV screens, with Piastri clearly speeding up and braking hard after the safety car lights had gone out - which is a big no-no in racing - though McLaren argued that the Aussie was desperately trying to generate brake temperature in the cool, wet conditions. But with no sign of a protest, it’s a home win for Norris, second for championship-leader Piastri and a shock podium for Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg that’s been 15 years in the making.
Perhaps more shocking was that Hulkenberg, in one of the slowest cars on the grid, managed to hold off the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, especially as the seven-time champ had looked back to his old self throughout the weekend. But the fact is that the SF-25, a radically different car to the one that proved so competitive last year, is a right handful at the best of times, and in the wet looked borderline undriveable. Watching through a gap in the fence at turns three and four, the Ferraris were by far the most wayward car on track, with armfuls of understeer quickly transitioning into low-speed snaps of oversteer. The fact Hamilton managed to bring it home in fourth is a miracle in itself.
Okay, ‘miracle’ may be a little strong, but it’s the slimmest of silver linings in what was otherwise another tricky weekend, the sort that have plagued Hamilton’s first six months in red. The most successful driver in F1 ever joining the most successful team in F1 was, arguably, the biggest move in the sport’s 75-year history. And while he wasn’t immediately on the pace of Leclerc, who’s been Ferrari’s superstar for six years and considered by many as the quickest driver on the grid over a single lap, Hamilton put up a solid fight in the Australian opener and briefly led the race, before heavy rain put paid to a bold strategy to stay on slicks.
Then came China and, immediately, Hamilton was on the pace. Being a Sprint weekend meant there was a shorter race with its own truncated qualifying a day before the actual Grand Prix. Hamilton narrowly pipped Verstappen in Friday’s Sprint qualifying, before sprinting off to a comfortable win in the race on Saturday morning. However, come qualifying for the Grand Prix, rival teams managed to recover some pace and the best the Ferraris could manage was a third-row lockout. Hamilton would slip behind Leclerc in the main race, but this was again another decent performance in what was only his second outing for the Scuderia.
A few hours after the chequered flag fell, Hamilton and Ferrari’s season began to unravel. Post-race checks found the skid-block, a synthetic plank that runs the length of the car to stop teams from dropping the suspension to the floor for extra performance, had worn beyond its legal limit, resulting in a cut-and-dry disqualification for car number 44. It then emerged that something had potentially been wrong during development, meaning the car is susceptible to bottoming out at high speed, scraping its underbelly across the tarmac and wearing the plank thin, stemming from issues with the suspension, apparently.
As a result, Ferrari has reportedly been running the car higher than it’d like, which means the underbody can’t work its magic and deliver the downforce levels seen in the wind tunnel. Leclerc has said on several occasions that he’s come up with an ‘extreme’ setup to get around the SF-25’s inherent issues, which has so far yielded four podium places and a credible challenge for pole at the Monaco Grand Prix (which all but guarantees victory). Hamilton, on the other hand, has struggled to find a balance that works for him. On better days, he’s a couple of tenths off Leclerc in qualifying and several seconds behind come the chequered flag; while on the bad days, like the races in Saudi Arabia and Monaco, he’s been miles off battling a rear end that just won’t stick.
However, a weekend like the one Hamilton had at Silverstone would, on any other track, signal a turning point. He was the quicker of the two Ferrari drivers from start to finish, and looked a genuine threat had the heavens not opened 20 minutes in. But this is what Hamilton does at Silverstone. He’s got nine home victories to his name, and had been on a 12-strong podium streak, which came to an end last weekend. He never fails to raise the bar in front of his adoring fans, who’ve stuck by him through the highs of seven championships, the heartbreak of the farcical 2021 finale, and the trials and tribulations that come when racing in red.
Whether he can carry that momentum forward through the rest of the season is anyone’s guess, but a long-awaited suspension update spearheaded by Loïc Serra, Ferrari’s new(ish) technical director and former-Mercedes chassis guru, may just bring the Scuderia back into play. But Leclerc will no doubt be right with him, if not ahead, and then there’s of course the championship protagonists of Norris, Piastri, Verstappen and Russell all vying to keep Hamilton - and each other - as far from the top step of the podium as possible. Even if his time at Ferrari proves fruitless, you can guarantee the fans at Silverstone will continue to cheer him on as loudly as ever, new king or not.
Race management is simply not good enough at Ferrari
Ferrari have for years managed to either build a quick car and still manage to make a mess of it via in race calls and management or built a dog of a car from the very off ruining there season and it seems yet again they have managed to do it.
What’s the quote from the movie Rush by Niki Lauda character. All these facilities and you managed to produce this piece of s
t. It handles like a pig. Seems this season they have done it again. Internet search suggests only 9 drivers have won an F1 race after they turned 40. It's a young person's game, unfortunately, and diminishing youth does strange things to the body.
Internet search suggests only 9 drivers have won an F1 race after they turned 40. It's a young person's game, unfortunately, and diminishing youth does strange things to the body.
However, is that comparison fair? How many of those drivers were in competitive seat, how many had an extended break before their return, generally in the past people peak fitness was a much narrower window.
Hamilton hasn’t had a break, he has recently won an F1 race, he’s in a car/team, that’s capable of wins, he appears to have good fitness levels.
The remainder of 25 and then 26 will answer those questions, I’m sure he’s well aware of that. An other WDC I think unlikely.
2022 was a right off after being cheated in 2021.
He'd be ahead of leclerc this season if it wasn't for some ridiculous in race decisions
However, is that comparison fair? How many of those drivers were in competitive seat, how many had an extended break before their return, generally in the past people peak fitness was a much narrower window.
Hamilton hasn t had a break, he has recently won an F1 race, he s in a car/team, that s capable of wins, he appears to have good fitness levels.
The remainder of 25 and then 26 will answer those questions, I m sure he s well aware of that. An other WDC I think unlikely.
Ham is still extremely fit but the synapses cannot be the same as 15 years ago. Still, he’s one of the UK’s greatest ever sportsmen, in a Ferrari and what’s not to love about the underdog story. Silverstone last year was fantastic so let’s at least have a few more of those and we can still dare to dream.
In other sports where you use equipment like golf or Tennis a change in rackett or club can have an impact on the athelete's performance until they get used it to. And yet that is just a tennis racket not a particularly sophisticated bit of equipment.
Yes an F1 car is a very sophisticated bit of equipment and so to get the most out of it take time and in some cases just may not be set up in a way you can make the most of it. And then you have a whole new team, personnel and culture to get on top of as well. Essentially it must be bloody difficult, against top line opposition. And even then he's sometimes quicker and mostly within a couple of tenths.
Sometimes a golfer will revert back to his previous clubs because he can't get on with the new ones.
He'll get there, might take him most of the season, and next year's car. But he'll get there.
Horner to Ferrari - to fix their race management cock ups, which seem to happen all too frequently.
Hamilton past his best, YES.
Hamilton still one of the top 6 drivers ion F1 grid, ABSOLUTELY.
Put any of those top 6 drivers in the Mclaren just now, and they are winning the championship, plain and simple.
Note: Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, Russel, Leclerc & Verstappen are the 6!!
With Red Bull in chaos and Merc seemingly both inconsistent and entering a period of driver shake up, perhaps, if he can smack them into shape, they have a chance to deliver. Going to be a Herculean task though. His comments about the Ferrari in the wet are a good start.
Only one thinking that as soon as Mateschitz died, the exit door for Horner opened and it is just possible, the allegations of bullying were inflated as a method to get him out. Going to be interesting to see if Jos V has done his son a favour.
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