Lewis Hamilton’s difficult first year with Ferrari has continued to attract attention across the Formula 1 paddock, with the seven-time world champion still waiting for his first podium in red after 22 consecutive race starts.

No other new Ferrari driver has endured such a long wait, highlighting how challenging the transition from Mercedes to Maranello has been.

Although Lewis Hamilton has delivered several competitive weekends, his season has been repeatedly undermined by small execution errors and missed opportunities.

The Ferrari SF-25 has often shown podium-worthy performance, as proven by Charles Leclerc’s seven top-three results in the same machinery, yet Lewis Hamilton has regularly found himself fighting through the field after compromised qualifying sessions or unlucky race scenarios.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix offered an early glimpse of Lewis Hamilton’s underlying pace, but starting 12th on the grid left him with too much to recover. A similar pattern unfolded at Silverstone, where he appeared capable of challenging for pole position before a costly mistake in Q3 confined him to fifth. Near-podium results in Austria and the United States also slipped away. As a result, Hamilton’s last top-three finish remains his P2 at the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix with Mercedes, now more than a year ago.

George Russell says Lewis Hamilton should have been on the podium in Mexico

George Russell has continued to defend his former Mercedes teammate, insisting that Lewis Hamilton was unfairly denied a podium at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Speaking after the Las Vegas weekend, George Russell explained that the Briton’s eighth-place finish in Mexico did not reflect his actual performance, especially given that Hamilton had qualified a season-best third.

In George Russell’s view, the opening-lap chaos at turn one in Mexico was mishandled by the FIA. Both Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen ran off track, cutting the corner and retaining their positions, while the Ferrari man later received a time penalty for a separate incident involving Max Verstappen—an outcome Russell described as particularly damaging for Lewis Hamilton’s race strategy and momentum.

Russell argued that the lack of penalties for the turn-one incident created a situation he considered fundamentally unfair, noting that Lewis Hamilton had been the most disadvantaged driver in the sequence. According to Russell, Hamilton lost a genuine opportunity to secure his first Ferrari podium due to what he regarded as inconsistent stewarding rather than a lack of performance from the British driver.

Russell remains confident in Lewis Hamilton despite Ferrari difficulties

Lewis Hamilton’s frustrations have become increasingly visible throughout the 2025 season. Following a Q2 elimination at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton openly questioned his own form and even suggested that Ferrari might consider replacing him. One race later, George Russell dismissed those comments and insisted that Lewis Hamilton was being overly harsh on himself.

George Russell remains adamant that Lewis Hamilton is still an exceptional talent capable of delivering elite performances when the car and circumstances align. He pointed out that even during their time together at Mercedes, the Briton maintained a consistently high level, even if Russell occasionally held an edge in qualifying sessions—particularly during the latter stages of 2023.

The trend has continued into Lewis Hamilton’s first Ferrari season, where Charles Leclerc has often held an advantage over a single lap. Since the beginning of the 2024 campaign, the seven-time F1 world champion trails his teammates 37–10 in head-to-head qualifying battles, a statistic that underscores one of his key challenges as he adapts to the demands of the SF-25.

With only a few races remaining, the question now is whether the British driver can break his podium drought before the season ends—or whether the wait will extend into 2026. What remains certain is that his former teammate George Russell continues to stand firmly behind him, insisting that Lewis Hamilton’s struggles are rooted in circumstance rather than diminishing ability.