Lewis Hamilton's start at Ferrari was a disaster – will the record world champion retire soon?

Even more than Las Vegas, the Miami Grand Prix is ​​the party race of Formula 1, celebrating pure joie de vivre on the improvised circuit around the Hard Rock Stadium. The big favorite of both stars and fans is record world champion Lewis Hamilton, who is considered the face of the racing series by Americans.

But the 40-year-old Ferrari driver isn't feeling very happy at the moment. In the last race in Saudi Arabia, he finished seventh, 31 seconds behind his teammate Charles Leclerc; the Monegasque driver took third place, securing the first podium finish for the traditional Italian team.

This means that Lewis Hamilton has found himself back in the exact same situation at his new workplace that he sought to escape with his spectacular move after three disillusioning years at Mercedes: the very center of a crisis. A sporting and a personal one—and perhaps the biggest of his career.

"Everything I tried didn't work," the Briton recently said, "it's terrible. Because I don't have an answer. I didn't feel comfortable in my car for a single second." First, he tried to tune the race car more to his needs. Then, he tried to adapt himself more to his car. In both versions, the result wasn't what he expected of himself—and especially not what everyone else expected of him.

After five races, Scuderia Ferrari has only scored 78 points; at the same time last year, it had already scored 151. His predecessor, Carlos Sainz Jr., had scored 69 of those. Hamilton currently has only 31 points, putting him seven points behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli, his young successor at Mercedes , in the overall standings.

The freshness is gone, and so is the joy. Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has become more sensitive. This year, the Frenchman had planned to win the Constructors' Championship and, with the 2026 regulations revised, both of his drivers were in contention for the individual title.

But since Hamilton's surprise victory in the Shanghai sprint race, confidence has been dwindling for everyone involved. The Ferrari car, dubbed the SF-25, is only the fourth driver; the Scuderia plans to present a completely redesigned car at the start of the European season. This should reduce the performance deficit in qualifying – and better showcase the experience and aggressiveness of both drivers in the race.

In Florida this weekend, only the drivers' kit will be new; they'll be wearing blue. Hamilton is particularly frustrated by the fact that he doesn't know exactly why he's losing so much time to his teammate in the corners. He says there's no single sore spot he can point to. At one point, he even seemed to believe he was being discriminated against. But there were no signs of that. Hamilton admits that his teammate Leclerc is currently doing a better job.

His prognosis for the rest of the season: "I don't know how long I'll be struggling like this. But it's going to be painful." That's anything but reassuring. None of those involved can afford such a long adjustment period, especially since Maranello is already on red alert.

Former racing driver Ralf Schumacher, a pundit for the pay-TV channel Sky, is one of Hamilton's long-standing critics. The German says Hamilton has slumped. He also speculates that the Briton could soon lose interest and retire early. Hamilton, however, isn't that type of guy. Rather, he's someone who fights his way back into the race. What he particularly appreciates about Ferrari is their energy and passion , and he now needs to synchronize with that.

However, this alone won't solve Hamilton's adjustment difficulties after twelve years at Mercedes. He calls the current situation a "roller coaster." A team change these days is more than just a jump from one cockpit to another. And the matter isn't just complex on a technical level; it's also a matter of circumstances. In particular, Hamilton needs to solve his motivation problem, as the fatal mix of surprise and disappointment currently seems to be holding him back.

The winner of 105 Grand Prix races has never experienced a sustained mental stumble. "It's about trust in the car and also trust in himself. Everything is still new to him," says team principal Vasseur. Hamilton, for his part, says he's experiencing many things for the first time and is even writing down all his insights. This leads to the following interim assessment: "The car still feels foreign. Maybe I need a brain transplant."

Rather, however, he needs a break. Success is not only a matter of adjustment, but also of confidence.