Lewis Hamilton Set For More Struggles at Bahrain GP 2025, Warned New Ferrari Upgrade Will Bring Only 'Steady' Gains

Lewis Hamilton has made a relatively sedate start to life at his new Formula 1 team Ferrari, despite picking up a win at the F1 sprint event in Shanghai. However, any hopes of an upgrade set to come at the Bahrain GP 2025 improving things radically is set to be dashed. 

Ferrari are bringing a brand-new floor to the Bahrain GP, which Hamilton hoped would be able to offset a slight pace deficit to teammate Charles Leclerc. 

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Hamilton had also admitted after the previous race in Japan that his side of the garage had discovered an issue that led to him losing some pace. 

But the new upgrade is set to bring only marginal gains, according to a member of Ferrari himself. 

Ferrari Downplays New Upgrades

Ferrari deputy team principal Jerome d'Ambrosio said the team are looking to take small steps forward and the new upgrade will not revolutionise the car.

“Our expectations are not that this is going to revolutionize the whole performance picture. It's just hopefully adding that bit of performance that's, in the end, on the line very important—because every hundredth that you add on the car, it's a step forward. And that's what we're trying to chase — again, not to revolutionize anything but just to add marginal and steady gains on the car." 

And while that may not be what Hamilton or his fans want to hear, it adds up to how the development has been in this era of F1 cars. 

Gains have often been incremental - McLaren from 2024 onwards are an exception but they changed concepts entirely - something Ferrari have not done yet. 

The Way Forward

Ferrari are, as of now, behind the McLaren's of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri as well as the Mercedes cars and even Red Bull to a degree. 

But they have shown flashes of pace - the need of the hour, however, is to make those flashes seem more consistent.