Lewis Hamilton: Bond with Ferrari “very difficult” as qualifying struggles continue

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is facing an underwhelming start to his career at Ferrari, and was once again beaten by team-mate Charles Leclerc in Jeddah qualifying

Lewis Hamilton cut a dejected figure after he qualified down in seventh place for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Since winning the Shanghai sprint race on the second weekend of the 2025 Formula 1 campaign, Hamilton is struggling for form and fighting to get to grips with this year’s Ferrari.

After another disappointing result in qualifying, and seeing his team-mate Charles Leclerc qualify in fourth, Hamilton said: "It was challenging, as always, qualifying for me.

"I'd been nowhere all weekend – 13th I think in almost every session – so, honestly, I feel grateful to have got to Q3 and P7.

"Not a spectacular last lap, but have been making improvements all weekend. Needed a better lap at the end but, as I said, I'm just grateful to be there. Still plenty of time to come.”

When asked if he was more hopeful for a better result in Sunday’s race, Hamilton added: "Praying, more like! Trying to bond with this car on a single lap is something that I am finding very difficult at the moment.

Watch: Was This as Magical a Pole as Max in Suzuka? Saudi Arabia GP Qualifying Report

"But we don't give up. When there's a will there's a way, we keep pushing, keep trying, have got some amazing support so just keep working hard."

Hamilton was quizzed about his comments after his fifth-place finishing in Bahrain where he said that he felt he was making progress and whether the result in Jeddah proved his feelings were a false dawn.

He said: “I was feeling positive after the last race and hoping that I could apply some of those things, but it's not worked.

“Tomorrow, is it about being patient, just waiting for opportunities, yellow flags and safety cars.

“I'm going to just try and race and see if I can go forwards. If I can go forwards, that'd be great. If not, then you'll be hopeful for something to happen to try and capitalise on.

“I'm a long way off. But you don't give up, just keep trying.”