Hamilton: I've got so many notes where we [Ferrari] need to improve

Ferrari’s form has nosedived in the final phase of the campaign, leaving Hamilton without a podium in his first year in red and facing the prospect of finishing a season outside the top three for the first time since 2007.

Hamilton told reporters: “It definitely has been the most challenging year both in and out of the car. I have got so many notes in terms of things we need to improve on. Time will tell whether or not we act on those things and we keep hold of the things that are good and change the things that are not, and there is plenty of those.”

He added that Ferrari have “literally no reason” not to correct the issues if they act decisively, insisting he is still hopeful of progress despite telling Sky after Las Vegas that he was “not looking forward” to next year.

Notably, in a sport where beating your teammate is the first order of business for a driver, Hamilton's numbers vis-à-vis Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc. With a race to go, the Briton trails the Monegasque by 78 points.

In terms of the tale of the tape after 23 of 24 Rounds this season, Leclerc has beaten Hamilton 18 to 5 in Qualifying, and 17 to 3 in races so far.

Team principal Frederic Vasseur moved to cool speculation after Hamilton’s gloomy Las Vegas comments, saying: “This comes 10 minutes after a difficult race, and I perfectly understand the frustration. When he says he is not focused on 2026, it is because he is focused on his own race, which was a tough one. From this frustration, we have to take the positive from it. We take it as a positive reaction. We have to improve, that is clear.”

Vasseur also revealed Ferrari underestimated the psychological impact of halting aerodynamic development back in April. McLaren’s early dominance forced Ferrari into an early 2026 pivot, but the decision created a long season with limited updates.

The Ferrari boss explained: “When you still have 20 races to go, or 18 races to go, and you know that you will not bring any aero development, it is quite tough to manage psychologically. But overall, we continued to push. We brought some mechanical upgrades, and we are trying to do a better job operationally. This is the DNA of our sport.”

Charles Leclerc kept Ferrari in the fight by sneaking into SQ3 and Q3 in Qatar before finishing eighth after what Vasseur described as “pushing like hell” since Friday.

The Frenchman maintained that Ferrari’s sudden loss of performance was related to Qatar’s layout and conditions, not a deeper mechanical regression. He said: “In Qatar, keep in mind that we have all the same cars as two weeks ago.

"It means that it is more related to the track and the conditions than something else. If you compare to Sao Paulo when we were in good shape and this weekend, it is a matter of setup. Sometimes you are struggling a bit more to find the right window.”

Vasseur warned that the margin for error is now “quite narrow” with the compressed field. “You lose two or three tenths, you are at the back. It was true for Max in Sao Paulo. You can be out in Q1 for a setup issue.”

The 2025 season concludes this weekend with the championship-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina, where Hamilton will attempt to halt his slide and end a bruising debut Ferrari campaign on a stronger note.