McLaren have already proven one of Hamilton's biggest complaints about the 2025 F1 season wrong – opinion

Lewis Hamilton is not having the 2025 season with Ferrari that he was expecting, as the team struggle to find the right balance with the SF-25.

The Maranello outfit are currently winless in 2025, excluding Hamilton’s Sprint win in China. Charles Leclerc has scored five podiums for Ferrari thus far, while his teammate is still waiting for his first top-three finish.

Hamilton risks breaking Kimi Raikkonen’s record as the latest Ferrari driver not to score a podium in a season – it would also be a first for his F1 career. It has been a frustrating campaign for the 40-year-old as he struggles to adapt to his new surroundings.

Hamilton’s ‘biggest problem’ was the hype around his move to Ferrari, according to Guenther Steiner. He was expected to fight for his eighth championship, but the team have had difficulty finding the right operating window for their car.

The SF-25 has proved largely uncompetitive compared to its rivals as Ferrari sit third in the constructors’ championship. It has prompted criticism from Hamilton about the budget cap in F1, but McLaren disprove his claims.

McLaren’s success with 2025 upgrades compared to Ferrari prove Lewis Hamilton is wrong about the F1 budget cap

Introduced in 2021, the budget cap limits teams’ spending to roughly £100m per season. This affects how they can develop their cars simultaneously with a new set of regulations, especially this year, with the 2026 technical changes approaching.

As per a report from The Race, for Hamilton, the budget cap has made the 2025 season less exciting compared to other seasons before regulation changes, such as 2008 and 2013. He believes that the financial limits mean that teams have barely worked on 2025 as they shift focus to 2026.

While it is true that teams were developing at a higher rate in seasons such as 2008 – McLaren and Ferrari continued upgrading their cars as Hamilton beat Felipe Massa to the title – that is not to say that they have not been bringing significant updates in 2025.

Ferrari brought a radical rear suspension upgrade in Spa to try and fix their issues with ride height. However, the issue has still persisted as Hamilton continues to struggle with understeer.

The ‘main differentiator’ between previous seasons and 2025 under the budget cap is the success of upgrades among teams. Ferrari have largely failed with this year’s updates, while McLaren have been successful.

Winning 12 races thus far, they have been ‘afforded the chance to switch focus to 2026 in good time’ due to this year’s updates. Things would certainly have been different had they had closer competition from Ferrari, Red Bull or Mercedes earlier in the year.

Ultimately, McLaren prove Hamilton’s claims are wrong, as teams can clearly bring successful updates to their cars under the financial cap and in the midst of a regulation change. The difference is that Ferrari have fallen short with development.

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Andrea Stella disagrees with Lewis Hamilton as he does not see the budget cap as a ‘limitation’

F1 are set to increase financial spending from 2026 onwards, with the budget cap set to increase to $215m (roughly £160m). McLaren boss Andrea Stella does not see this as a limitation for his team.

“I would add that the budget cap is one of the most important aspects of the regulations that we have in place to guarantee the health and the viability of the sport,” he said.

“So I think it’s important we remark that. At the same time, let me say that, for instance, we at McLaren have been able to make a decent step forward under the budget cap, because I think ultimately you can find performance not only from a financial point of view, but also from a technical point of view.

“So I don’t think the budget cap is a limitation.”