Lewis Hamilton has been exercising his profession with Mercedes since 2013.
Since announcing his surprising move to Ferrari in 2025, Lewis Hamilton has been repeatedly questioned about his ambition to achieve results for Mercedes this season. In response, the British driver expressed his dedication to Mercedes, aiming to maximize his performance before leaving the team.
After Lewis Hamilton’s disappointing race in Japan, where he finished 9th, he was asked if he felt envious of Ferrari’s strong performance, as they seemed to be making significant progress with their car compared to Mercedes. This question seemed to irritate Hamilton, leading him to abruptly leave the interview.
Ferrari has achieved podiums in every race this season.
Do you have a better question?
https://t.co/UIXs26Ttyj
With Ferrari drivers securing podium positions and Mercedes finishing fourth in Suzuka, the journalist may have asked this question to provoke a reaction from Hamilton. The British driver will be eager to bounce back from his poor run of results during the upcoming Chinese GP weekend.
The result Mercedes achieved in the Japanese Grand Prix will be hard to accept. After qualifying in 7th and 9th places, courtesy of Lewis Hamilton and [driver’s name], the duo failed to advance further and ended up finishing outside the top five positions.
After the disappointing result, [driver’s name] spoke to Sky Sports F1 about the reasons why Mercedes struggled to move up through the field. He mentioned how the decision to switch to hard tires after the red flag on lap 1, caused by the collision between [driver’s name] and [driver’s name], resulted in a disastrous first stint where they couldn’t compete with the cars ahead.
« Nous avons fini là où nous avons commencé et c’était très difficile. Nous devons enquêter sur la cause – était-ce dû à la chaleur excessive ou à une mauvaise gestion? Au début, cela semblait être le bon choix car nos temps au tour étaient relativement stables. Nos concurrents directs ne s’éloignaient pas significativement, mais soudain nos temps au tour ont chuté de deux secondes et deux secondes et demie par tour. À ce moment-là, il était clair que ça ne durerait pas. »
Le pilote autrichien a également exprimé sa surprise face à la chute soudaine de performances des pneus durs du W15, ce qui leur a finalement coûté une chance de terminer sur le podium. Si Mercedes veut rivaliser en haut du classement en Chine, ils devront améliorer leurs performances et résoudre ces problèmes.