Martin Brundle delivers stern verdict on Lewis Hamilton's underwhelming form at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton finished the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix half a minute behind his teammate Charles Leclerc. This pace difference seemed opposite to his Sprint win in China, leading former F1 driver turned commentator Martin Brundle to share his verdict on why the seven-time champion has been unable to adapt well at Ferrari.

When Hamilton had signed for the prancing horses, the paddock went into a rave, theorizing about the possibility that the Briton might win his eighth world championship in the elusive Scuderia. However, five rounds into 2025, the tides are seemingly on the other side.

Hamilton had a mediocre outing in Saudi Arabia compared to his teammate, who recorded a podium finish after making a strategy gamble work. Witnessing this massive pace delta, people reckoned that the Briton does not understand the Ferrari SF-25 well due to the unfamiliar nature of the car.

Despite such claims, Martin Brundle asserted that he "does not buy" into such claims, and said, via PlanetF1:

"Fred [Vasseur] summed it up, he said it’s been up and down, because there was a time when we talked about in commentary where he was in the mid 1:32s which was bang on the pace. He ended up 31 seconds behind Charles Leclerc, his team-mate. Obviously had a little bit more traffic because he was further down the grid so you can take some off for that but it was up and down.

"I struggle to buy into he doesn’t understand the car. It’s a new car [but] here we are knocking on the door of May, and they’ve had all the preseason stuff and all that. So I just think Lewis hasn’t gelled with this car and I don’t think he’s going the right way on the setup."

Though the 40-year-old has won a Sprint race this year, he already has a considerable deficit in points to Charles Leclerc.

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Lewis Hamilton has no answer to his woes at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton at the qualifying for the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia - Source: Getty

While the scarlet duo has finished the same number of races this year, the Monegasque driver has scored 50 percent more points than Lewis Hamilton. Moreover, with this delta increasing every race weekend, questions were raised regarding when the Briton could get on par with his teammate.

After the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the 40-year-old was asked about whether he knew the reason he was not doing well with the car. However, he shared a single-word response and said, via Top Gear:

"No."

Lewis Hamilton sits seventh in the interim championship standings, with Charles Leclerc two spots higher than him in the standings with a 16-point lead.