Lewis Hamilton has famously called the 2025 season the “worst ever,” and his frustrating performance at the recent Las Vegas Grand Prix served as a stark summary of that sentiment. However, according to Bernie Collins, the former Head of Race Strategy at Aston Martin, the root cause of that frustration was not Hamilton starting from P19, but a serious technical issue with the medium tyre that Ferrari must urgently investigate.

Collins believes something went fundamentally “wrong” for the seven-time world champion, particularly as he failed to pass the Stake car of Nico Hulkenberg—an opponent the Ferrari should have comfortably outpaced.

The Journey From Promise to Failure

The race in Las Vegas started tough for Hamilton, who, for the first time in his F1 career, qualified dead last on outright pace in wet conditions. After Yuki Tsunoda started from the pit lane, Hamilton began the 50-lap race from P19.

Initially, things looked promising. Collins noted on Sky Sports F1: “It was always going to be a tough race from P19, let’s be honest. But the Ferrari did look strong in the dry… He actually had a very good first stint on the hard tyre.”

The Ferrari team opted for a long-stint strategy, making good use of the hard tyre compound to maintain a decent pace and set up for a decisive tactical move. The clear goal was to execute an undercut strategy against Hulkenberg, a driver the team was confident they could leapfrog with ease.

The Game Flips: The Medium Tyre Collapse

However, immediately after pitting and switching to the medium tyre compound, everything suddenly fell apart for Hamilton.

Collins described the alarming shift in pace: “The medium tyre just went from bad to worse for Lewis. The first initial laps on the medium were slow; Hulkenberg protected the undercut, so he’s [Hamilton] behind again.”

This decline was not merely a problem with overtaking; it was a pure drop in performance. Collins continued her assessment: “And then the final stint on the medium, he’s dropping from Hulkenberg.” The Ferrari car, a machine expected to fight for podiums, could not maintain pace against a significantly slower competitor.

The Need for Urgent Action

Hamilton’s final result—a P10 finish (later promoted to eighth after the McLaren disqualifications)—failed to mask the fundamental failure of both the strategy and the car’s performance on that specific compound.

Upon exiting the SF-25, Hamilton was visibly crestfallen, describing the feeling as “terrible” and calling the 2025 season “the worst season ever.”

Bernie Collins concluded that Hamilton’s profound deflation had a clear, technical root: “So something’s gone wrong on that medium stint for Lewis and Ferrari, and that’s why he’s so defeated, because he’s got out of the car, not challenging, having a terrible final few laps.”

This issue, according to Collins, is what matters most: The medium tyre failure became Hamilton’s “lasting memory” of the race, and “that is something they need to look at urgently.” If Ferrari fails to identify and rectify this mysterious performance gap, it will continue to undermine Hamilton’s spirit and prolong his ongoing “nightmare.”