F1Briefings

Lewis Hamilton "Learned a lot" after Strong Ferrari Showing in Bahrain

Nelson Espinal

[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] March 23, 2025; Shanghai, CHINA; Lewis Hamilton during the F1 Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Go Nakamura/Reuters via Imagn Images
[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] March 23, 2025; Shanghai, CHINA; Lewis Hamilton during the F1 Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Go Nakamura/Reuters via Imagn Images / Go Nakamura/Reuters via Imagn Images

After an up-and-down weekend for Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton has delivered his best race result since joining the Scuderia, finishing in P5 with plenty of overtakes and promising moments.

Hamilton struggled in qualifying to produce a quality lap and ultimately qualified in P9, while his teammate finished P3. He felt down and disappointed with his performance, lacking answers to any of the questions from the media after the session.

The race was a different story; Hamilton delivered a strong initial stint on the medium tires and was gaining significant ground during his second stint.

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After the race, Hamilton reflected on how it went and was expressing a different tone than at the end of Saturday.

"[The feeling is] night and day different," Hamilton said.

"Of course, hard afternoon – to progress was not easy out there, everyone is so close."

“The car is sometimes quite hard to drive and I’m really working hard to adapt my driving style so that’s really what I’ve got to do."

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“Also get the set-up where I need it, we got a much better set-up where I moved to where Charles was and he didn’t move away from that all weekend."

"I think just getting the confidence in that and then adjusting the driving style to it. But the team did a great job with the pit stops today and the strategy.”

It makes sense that Leclerc's side of the garage has an optimal setup for the car, given the many years Charles has spent with the team and his understanding of its inner workings.

While Leclerc and Hamilton have significant differences in their driving styles, a temporary adjustment to his teammate's approach could help improve both results and confidence.

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After his strong first session in a Ferrari, Hamilton hopes to ride the weekend's momentum and start delivering earlier in the race weekend.

“I learned a lot today, and as I saw, that middle stint I was really in line with the car and I had the pace and I was moving forwards,” Hamilton added.

“I need that at the beginning and the end and I need that in Qualifying so I know what to search for now.”

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Nelson Espinal
NELSON ESPINAL

Nelson Espinal lives and breathes sports. Avidly following of everything ranging from motorsports to Mixed Martial Arts to tennis, he is connected with most of the sports world at all times. His dream of writing about sports started at 16 years of age, writing for a Lakers fans blog, and his passions for sports writing has grown since. He has his Bachelor's degree in Political Science, and a minor in writing literature from the University of California, San Diego.

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