The F1 2025 season has been something of a disaster for the Scuderia Ferrari team, but the team is hoping a new upgrade package will turn things around this weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton has admitted he’s happy to have an upgrade — but that he’s not quite sure how it will perform given that it’s not providing “the normal information.”
Lewis Hamilton’s “not normal” verdict in Austrian GP upgrades
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
The F1 2025 season hasn’t exactly gone to plan for Scuderia Ferrari, and new hire Lewis Hamilton has particularly struggled to find his footing.
While teammate Charles Leclerc has managed to coax the tetchy SF-25 into three podiums and six other points-paying finishes, Hamilton hasn’t had near as much luck. As things currently sit in the drivers’ standings, Leclerc is fifth overall with 104 points — strongly out-scoring Hamilton just below him, who has 79 points to his name.
Coming into the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Ferrari is introducing an updated floor in hopes of extracting additional performance and solving ongoing problems with inconsistency and instability, particularly in the corners.
It’s the first step of a larger upgrade package that Autoracer.it reports will be completed at next weekend’s British Grand Prix. Those upgrades will center more around the rear suspension, which has been a notable point of weakness for Ferrari.
The team is likely hoping that these upgrades will help the team find its footing, particularly on Lewis Hamilton’s side of the garage.
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Hamilton, though, sounds as if he has mixed feelings about the upgrades and what impact he’ll be able to see on performance.
“Firstly, I am happy that we have an upgrade, it is always exciting to get new pieces on the car,” Hamilton said.
“So I am really grateful for everyone working hard to bring them, but we don’t really know the actual effect it is going to have.”
However, he did raise some concerns about the initial data the team has been seeing.
Hamilton continued, “It’s not the normal information we’re getting of much load you’ve added to the car, it is not necessarily clear, but hopefully it will be a step in the right direction, but I wouldn’t think we’re expecting it to change a huge amount, but fingers crossed it is better.”
That isn’t exactly a massive vote of confidence in favor of the SF-25, but Hamilton sounds positive about the overall future direction of the team.
“I’m focused more on changes in the background, foundation-building stuff that we need to put in place in order to have a better 2026,” he told Sky Sports.
“You always want upgrades so I’m grateful for every little bit, whether it’s a small or big piece.
“What I would say is, don’t expect much change. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll find something that we didn’t expect, but again, we don’t really know, so we will find out tomorrow.
“Hopefully it will be a step forward in the right direction, and I think that’s the most important thing, that we are moving forwards.”
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