"Let's not give up": Lewis Hamilton gives pep talk to Ferrari after a disastrous F1 Chinese GP

Lewis Hamilton shared encouraging feedback with the team after the end of the 2025 F1 Chinese Grand Prix as the race ended with a subpar result for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc and Hamilton finished the race in P5 and P6, respectively.

The SF-25 seemed to be strong at the start of the race as they made up places on Max Verstappen and were gaining on George Russell's Mercedes. Despite a damaged front wing, Leclerc managed to keep his pace up on the medium tires. However, after the first stint, there wasn't any reasonable pace in the cars to battle Russell for the podium, moreover, Verstappen started gaining on Hamilton.

Hamilton then pitted for fresh rubber but couldn't make up to Verstappen in P5. The latter then overtook the other Ferrari and left both cars in P5 and P6.

The race ended with a disappointing result for the team. However, Lewis Hamilton mentioned certain "improvements" that Ferrari can make in the upcoming races.

"Guys I know that was tough. Not the result that we wanted but let’s keep pushing. There’s improvements we can make, for sure. Let’s not give up," he said on his team radio.

His race engineer, Riccardo Adami, affirmed that both he and the team extracted the maximum pace from the car this weekend.

"Yep. We did the maximum, you did the maximum with the pace we had."

McLaren dominated the race with a 1 - 2 finish, giving Oscar Piastri another victory.

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Where did Ferrari lose the pace in China? Lewis Hamilton drops from Sprint winner to P6

Lewis Hamilton dominated the Sprint earlier yesterday after having clinched pole position, winning the race with a 6.8-second gap in front. However, that pace was lost hours later when he hit the track again for the main qualifying session as McLaren seemed to be back at the top.

Lewis Hamilton during the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday - Source: Getty

Considering that teams were allowed to make changes in their car setups after the Sprint, McLaren was speculated to have tweaked the car just right to gain the pace enough for Oscar Piastri to clinch pole position.

At the same time, it was rather confusing to see Ferrari lose so much pace with Lewis Hamilton qualifying only P5 and his teammate right behind him. However, he did reveal that they made some adjustments to the car that could have potentially made them lose performance.

"We started really optimistic, naturally, but then we made just a couple of small changes, tweaks to the car, and it really put the car on a knife edge," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. "I think the wind picked up a little bit as well, so the car was trickier to drive, and it was harder to put laps together."

Both Ferraris only switched positions, considering their starting and finishing position. It was a tough day for the team. They still seem to be at an equal pace with Mercedes, with George Russell claiming the final place on the podium.