Formula 1 Sao Paulo GP
Lewis Hamilton’s Brazil GP frustration boils over: "Another write-off weekend”
Hamilton cut a dejected figure after qualifying P13 at Interlagos
Alex Harrington Federico Faturos
Edited: Nov 8, 2025, 9:29 PM
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Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Lewis Hamilton was downtrodden following a difficult qualifying session for the 2025 Brazilian Grand Prix. Finishing 13th, the Ferrari driver joined the general complaints about tyre temperatures across the grid, adding that mentally he is "not good".
Hamilton dropped out in Q2 before McLaren's Lando Norris took pole ahead of Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Scuderia team-mate Charles Leclerc. This was another shock exit, as he joined Max Verstappen, who also suffered a surprise early elimination.
"The set-up is fine, just couldn’t get the tyres working," the Briton admitted. "Tyre temps," he repeated when pressed on where he lost time. "It's all done in the garage," he added.
Is this another issue with Ferrari's processes?
"I don't know, I can't remember if it's the same problem as before, it's not the same, I think the execution in terms of the times we got out and everything is fine, it's just the rears are at a place that I can't get to temperature for them to stop that."
The sprint was fruitless for the driver with regard to learnings for Sunday, although he reported that "you can't overtake."
This was another disappointing weekend as he watched his team-mate finish in the top three once again. This unhappiness was reflected in his face during interviews following a long Saturday, with him being questioned about how he's feeling mentally after another struggle.
"Um... not great, not great. I'll just do what I can tomorrow," he said. "It just continues to go bad every weekend, but I'll get up tomorrow and try again."
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
Expectations for Sunday are equally low: "I'm not expecting anything to be honest, but we'll see what happens, it's another write-off weekend I guess."
Interlagos offers a bruised Hamilton an opportunity to take something from his Sunday campaign. But progress will be limited with overtaking opportunities at a minimum. Ferrari will pin its hopes on strategy, as the weather could prove to be a significant factor for the weekend. Its objective will be to salvage points from the midfield while Leclerc once again fights for a podium finish.
"I don't want to over exaggerate, I think, the turnaround that we've had because we are only speaking about a tenth and a half, maybe," the Monegasque said. "But the thing is that this weekend, a tenth and a half means out of Q1 or inside Q3. I think where we did a really good job is by executing everything perfectly from Q1 to Q3 because we knew that we were...
"I mean, it's been a very difficult weekend since FP1 and we knew that we will struggle to get to Q2 and then Q3. But we did everything perfect. So I'm very happy about that."
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