Ferrari ‘know they are in trouble’ as Lewis Hamilton slams qualifying session as ‘not good enough’

Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve says Ferrari “know they are in trouble” after a frustrating start to the 2025 season.

Hamilton – in his first year with the Scuderia after joining from Mercedes, where he won seven world titles – qualified eighth for the Japanese Grand Prix and team-mate Charles Leclerc fourth, two weeks after both were disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix.

A sprint victory in China has been the highlight of Hamilton’s Ferrari stint so far with he and Leclerc finishing 10th and eighth respectively in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and sitting on single-figure points hauls ahead of Sunday’s race at Suzuka.

Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion with Williams, told Sky Sports F1: “They know they are in trouble and do not know how to get better. They can see the opposition is going to get better, so it is not looking good for Ferrari.”

Hamilton: Not good enough from my side

Hamilton was disappointed with his performance in qualifying, saying “not good enough from my side” as he ended up over six tenths behind surprise pole-sitter Max Verstappen.

Red Bull driver Verstappen snatched top spot from McLaren’s championship leader Lando Norris with a time of 1:26.983, a lap record at Suzuka.

Hamilton’s excessive skid-block wear led to his disqualification in China a fortnight ago and that was perhaps the reason for Ferrari running a higher car in Japan.

The Brit said after qualifying: “We are running higher than I would like but everyone is in the same boat.

“Charles [Leclerc] did an amazing job. We went in different directions with set-up. I had a lot of understeer and just couldn’t dial it up.”

Leclerc: Big gap compared to McLaren and Red Bull

Asked whether Ferrari’s ride height is affecting performance, Leclerc said: “We have got some other issues, not particularly with the ride height. I can’t go too much into detail.

“In qualifying, it started to go away from us a little bit, especially in Q3. I had either a lot of oversteer or understeer but the lap I did, I was really happy with it.

“Going back [to practice in Friday] we really found something from my driving style that seems to work a bit better and gave me a lot more confidence for the rest of qualifying.

“This is positive for the rest of the season [but] the other issues might take a bit longer. There’s still a big gap compared to McLaren and Red Bull and this is our target.

“On the whole, it’s been positive because I feel a lot more comfortable with the car.”