Lewis Hamilton makes his feelings known over Ferrari's devastating qualifying after the F1 Chinese GP sprint triumph

Lewis Hamilton felt that setup changes affected the balance of SF-25 during the qualifying session of the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. The unpredictable nature of the car led to a drop in performance as the Brit finished P5.

Hamilton kicked off the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix on a flyer note, taking pole position for the sprint race by setting up the record for the fastest lap in Shanghai. On Saturday, March 22, the Ferrari driver drove a perfect race to take home the sprint race win.

He completed 19 clean laps despite heavy tire degradation. However, the promising performance from the sprint race vanished in the qualifying session as Hamilton struggled to put in quick laps.

Though he made it to Q3, his lap time of 1:30.927 minutes was only good enough to place him P5, a positive above his teammate Charles Leclerc.

Meanwhile, in a post-qualifying interview with Sky Sports F1, Lewis Hamilton revealed that the team made setup changes for the qualifying session, which in hindsight, didn't work in his favor. He explained:

"We started really optimistic, but we made a couple of changes, and it really put the car on a knife edge. The wind picked up a bit as well, so the car was trickier to drive and harder to put laps together. You want a car that's balanced. At the moment, from one corner to the next, the car has a different balance.

Hamilton added:

"We made the change, and then all of a sudden in the high-speed it was overbalanced, so you want a car you can rely on, and when you attack the corners, you know it will stay with you rather than lock up or go into oversteer. When it's unpredictable, you have no hope."

That being said, Oscar Piastri secured pole position in China, followed by George Russell in P2 and Lando Norris in P3.

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Ferrari still positive despite Lewis Hamilton's disappointing qualification

Lewis Hamilton with Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc - Source: Getty

Ferrari drivers had a disappointing outing in the qualifying session of the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. While Lewis Hamilton finished P5, Charles Leclerc crossed the checkered flag at P6. However, team principal Fred Vasseur is still hopeful of a good result on Sunday.

Talking to Sky Sports, he said:

“It was a very strange quali with ups and downs for everybody. But we finished not that far away from the McLaren. I think it’ll be more a matter of consistency tomorrow in the race rather than grid position.”

Even Charles Leclerc said in a post-qualifying interview that Ferrari has about three-tenths more pace, which they failed to unleash on Saturday.

Nevertheless, Lewis Hamilton's sprint victory is the one big positive Ferrari can take from this Grand Prix. While setup changes hurt them in qualifying, better data and understanding of the track will likely help them put on a good show in Shanghai on Sunday.