Lewis Hamilton’s wait for his first podium as a Ferrari driver continues to rumble on, as the Briton endured one of his worst results so far in the 2025 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The 40-year-old is now 17 races into living his childhood dream of being a Ferrari driver. But his move to Maranello has been more like a nightmare, with the best that the seven-time F1 champion has achieved in any Grand Prix remains his P4 results in Imola, Austria and Britain.
Hamilton has not finished higher than P6 through the past five Grands Prix, as well, and only claimed eighth place in last Sunday’s Azerbaijan GP. Only when the Stevenage-born star also secured P8 in Miami, P10 in Australia and P12 in Hungary has he finished a Grand Prix lower.
Only achieving P8 in Baku further leaves Hamilton just sixth in the F1 drivers’ standings with 121 points, 44 adrift of teammate Charles Leclerc in fifth. Hamilton failed to give P8 back to Leclerc in the Azerbaijan GP, too, having misjudged yielding the place after trading positions.
Lewis Hamilton setting the FP2 pace blinded Ferrari about their Azerbaijan Grand Prix potential
Hamilton “struggled” with the rear of his Ferrari all throughout the Azerbaijan GP and would finish the race 36.310 seconds from winner Max Verstappen. Yet the Scuderia had kicked off the weekend with much more optimism about the possibility for success in the City of Wind.
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| SEASON | TEAM | POINTS | WINS | PODIUMS |
| 2010 | McLaren | 210 | 3 | 8 |
| 2011 | McLaren | 202 | 2 | 5 |
| 2012 | McLaren | 165 | 3 | 6 |
| 2013 | Mercedes | 175 | 1 | 5 |
| 2014 | Mercedes | 316 | 10 | 14 |
| 2015 | Mercedes | 345 | 10 | 15 |
| 2016 | Mercedes | 280 | 6 | 13 |
| 2017 | Mercedes | 331 | 9 | 12 |
| 2018 | Mercedes | 331 | 9 | 14 |
| 2019 | Mercedes | 338 | 9 | 14 |
| 2020 | Mercedes | 347 | 11 | 14 |
| 2021 | Mercedes | 275.5 (inc 2 from 2 Sprints) | 5 | 12 |
| 2022 | Mercedes | 170 (inc 1 from 2 Sprints) | 0 | 6 |
| 2023 | Mercedes | 194 (inc 8 from 4 Sprints) | 0 | 5 |
| 2024 | Mercedes | 166 (inc 10 from 3 Sprints) | 2 | 4 |
| 2025 | Ferrari | 121 (inc 14 from 3 Sprints) | 0 | 0 |
According to Autosprint, Hamilton ‘raised’ Ferrari’s expectations for the Azerbaijan GP when the Briton set the pace during the second practice session. He posted a 1:41.293 lap to lead teammate Leclerc by just 0.074s, with Mercedes’ George Russell 0.477s adrift in third place.
Leclerc had even set the third-fastest lap time during FP1 and Hamilton was fourth-fastest in FP3. But the Scuderia’s challenge then stuttered, as Leclerc crashed during qualifying for the Azerbaijan GP without setting a Q3 lap time and Hamilton bowed out during Q2 in only P12.
Hamilton and Leclerc did not meet Ferrari’s raised expectations that the Azerbaijan GP could yield their first win of the 2025 F1 season. Hamilton’s pace in practice had ‘created illusions’ that blinded Ferrari from the ‘clear’ evidence that the SF-25 does not have ‘any’ advantages.
Ferrari ignored their data from a disappointing Italian Grand Prix for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc
Ferrari headed for the Azerbaijan GP reeling from the misery of their home race at Monza, where Leclerc and Hamilton qualified P4 and P5 (before a grid penalty dropped him to P10) and finished the Italian Grand Prix in P4 with a 25.624s deficit and P6 with a 37.449s deficit.
Before the action started at Monza, Ferrari were convinced that they would fight to win the Italian GP as the track’s level surface was meant to suit the SF-25. Yet Ferrari did not find the pace their data promised at Monza, and Hamilton’s FP2 pace in Baku became a red herring.
Also, to further hinder the Scuderia’s hopes in the City of the Wind last weekend, Hamilton questioned Ferrari’s tyre strategy in qualifying for the Azerbaijan GP. It left him out of place on the grid, and Ferrari’s wait for their first win and his first podium this year still continues.