Four-time Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel has helped Lewis Hamilton adapt to life in Forali, acknowledging that it will require “a little time.”
A few months after the pre-season hype, Ferrari’s 2025 season isn’t going well.
Neither Hamilton nor Charles Leclerc have been registered on the podium in four races in the 2025 season.
Hamilton followed Leclair in three of the opening four weekends, but appears to be faster out of two Chinese Ferraris.
Still, Leclerc finished ahead of Hamilton despite damage to the nurse’s front wing before double disqualification.
After finishing fifth in Bahrain, Hamilton was with Mercedes for a long time and spoke at length about how different the Ferrari is.
Vettel defended Hamilton’s slow adaptation process, reflecting on his previous rival opening four races with Ferrari.
“I think it’s clearly a big step,” Vettel said. “It’s a huge change in culture and obviously, I think it’s very focused on the race side and the cars and how they want to be driven, how it feels, and so on.
“But I don’t think the only thing that adapts is driving. I think there are a lot of things that happen while driving.
“So, I’ve given you an example and to give you a steering wheel, he adapted it to the way he liked, but that’s not what he had. These things really take time to adapt and it takes the abilities of your brain.
Hamilton: “I’m not the most successful driver by chance.”
Hamilton’s main weakness continues to be qualifying.
In Bahrain last weekend, he was outqualified by George Russell in his final year carbon copy at Mercedes, finishing right behind him in the race following a strong performance in the race.
Vettel believes Hamilton is “working hard” to get things done with his new team, and thinks it’s only a matter of time before the results improve.
“Of course, I know he has very high ambitions and very high expectations,” Vettel added.
“So I know he’s probably not satisfied with himself. How competitive he is.
“And he believes it will be very difficult to fix everything and get back the full capacity he needs.