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The seven-time world champion is facing challenges "on all fronts" after moving from Mercedes to Ferrari, but he gave an indication that despite everything, the championship is very long.
Lewis Hamilton has revealed he "didn't know how hard it would be" to adapt to life at Ferrari during the 2025 season.
The Briton surprised the world by moving to the Italian team after 12 successful seasons at Mercedes, where he won six titles.
However, Hamilton is mostly struggling at Ferrari — he is currently seventh in the standings after six races and well behind his new team-mate Charles Leclerc.
"I expected it to be very difficult, because I've been to a new team before," Hamilton said ahead of this weekend's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, recalling his move from McLaren to Mercedes. "I went in with a completely open mind. I didn't know how hard it was going to be. I knew it was going to be challenging. But this is challenging on every possible level."
It was expected that Ferrari would be in the fight for both titles this year, after they finished second last season behind current leaders McLaren in the constructors' standings.
However, those promises have not materialized, and Hamilton admits that while the team is "working well together", there is still "a lot of work to be done" - but notes that the championship is long, especially with the changes coming to Barcelona.
"The championship? It's still a long way off, we have a long way to go," he pointed out. "From all these years of experience, when you're over 100 points behind in this part of the season, and you have a car that's competing with a pretty dominant car, you have to assume that you're not necessarily going to be fighting for the title."
"But things can change. We never saw it coming, but…"
Hamilton, who continued to show speed in 2025 by winning from pole position in the sprint race in China, added that success during the season could "also depend on the upgrades we get".
Ferrari is known to have made some upgrades at Imola this weekend, but they are not major changes.
Barcelona upgrades
Bigger upgrades are planned for Barcelona in two races, when the FIA will also introduce a new technical directive aimed at cracking down on flexible wings in F1.
“I can’t tell you right now whether we’re going to get a tenth, a half-second, a second by the end of the season,” Hamilton said.
“We want to get closer to those results. And as I said, we can’t close the door on any ideas at the moment. We have to keep our eyes and our heads open. We have to stay alert. We have to push with the expectation and the aim to win.”
“That’s still the goal every weekend. Now, when I sit with the engineers, the question is: how are we going to win this weekend?”
“If we can get a little bit more out of the tyres, if we can get a little bit more out of the undercarriage, if every member of the team can get at least half a tenth — then maybe we can get there.”
Hamilton admitted that this mindset is “particularly optimistic,” but said approaching each race weekend with a “positive” and “aggressive” attitude is key to turning the team around.
“You have to believe that we’re going to find it,” he said. “And that’s where I am at the moment. I don’t come into the weekend thinking we’re seventh or eighth. And that’s just the way it is. And that I can’t change that.”
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