Lewis Hamilton: ‘With my performance, Ferrari is done’ for 2025 F1 runner-up

The seven-time world champion finished 10th after starting on the back row in Las Vegas

Lewis Hamilton delivered arguably his most downbeat interviews of the 2025 Formula 1 season, saying he took “zero” consolation from his comeback drive at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion finished 10th after a disastrous qualifying, in which he came 20th having failed to cross the line in time to set a final flying lap in the wet Q1.

It came amid a horror debut year at Ferrari as Hamilton is sixth in the championship, yet to score a grand prix podium and 73 points behind team-mate Charles Leclerc, who has consistently beaten him all year.

Hamilton told Sky Sports that he felt “terrible” after the race on Saturday night, adding “it’s been the worst season ever and no matter how I try, how much I try, it just keeps getting worse”.

The 40-year-old claimed he’s trying “everything, in and out of the car” so is bewildered at how his struggles keep on happening with it long being known that he’s excited for the season end.

Hamilton was equally miserable in his post-race session with the written media as well, delivering answers of very few words but words which spoke volumes of how he’s feeling.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Jayce Illman / Getty Images

For example, when asked how much satisfaction he took from his points finish, he said: “Zero. The most meaningless 10 places, doesn't mean anything. It's still a bad weekend.”

The downbeat answers continued because in the next question, Hamilton was asked if there were any positives he could take from the race, and he delivered a short and sharp “no”.

He was even reluctant to talk about his race start, which saw Hamilton move up to 13th on the opening lap – though a lot of that was because of the Turn 1 carnage that saw Gabriel Bortoleto knock Lance Stroll into others.

“It was a pretty straightforward first lap, I just stayed out of trouble,” said the Ferrari driver.

So the only hope was for journalists to throw it forward and ask Hamilton about the final two grands prix of the season – Qatar and Abu Dhabi – where Ferrari will battle for second in the constructors’ standings.

“I don't even know how many points we have, but at this rate, with my performance, we're done,” he said.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Pierre Gasly, Alpine, Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber, Alexander Albon, Williams

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

Hamilton, to be fair to him, did have some reason to say that because even though it’s mathematically possible for Ferrari to claim second, it is unlikely to happen.

That’s because the Italian outfit is fourth, 20 points behind third-placed Red Bull and 52 off runner-up Mercedes, which finished third and fifth in Las Vegas.

So the emotions were clearly running through Hamilton, who finalised with “I’ve had 22 bad weekends” and when asked if the off-season presented a chance to reset, he simply replied: “I don’t know.”

Leclerc was similarly disappointed with the weekend, but still took solace from his sixth-placed result after starting ninth, having reported struggles with his SF-25 in the wet qualifying.

“It's not a good result – P6 is very disappointing,” said Leclerc. “On another note, I felt like it was probably the best race of the season in terms of personal performance.

“I felt like, honestly, all the laps were quali laps and there weren't many mistakes. So, I'm very happy with my own performance, but P6 is very frustrating.”