Brazilian GP: Hamilton brands qualifying “another write‑off” as Ferrari misses the window
Lewis Hamilton cut a resigned figure at Interlagos after a scrappy qualifying left him 13th on the grid and seething about rear-tyre temperatures that never came in. For a weekend Ferrari had circled as a chance to flex its Saturday pace, Hamilton’s side of the garage found only frustration.
The seven-time champion was dumped out in Q2, nearly half a second adrift of the benchmark set by Lando Norris. Most of the damage was done before Hamilton even reached the timing line. From the first push lap it was a running theme: the SF-25’s rear axle skating across the asphalt and the tyres stubbornly refusing to light up.
“I’m struggling to get the rears in, mate… need to change plans for the tyres,” he told race engineer Riccardo Adami early on. The messages kept coming. “No temperature or grip on the rears… We need to fix the rears.” When it was over, the verdict was blunt: “The set-up is fine, just couldn’t get the tyres working. Tyre temps. It’s all done in the garage.”
Hamilton insisted execution — the out‑laps, the release times — wasn’t the culprit. This looked more fundamental: the rears wouldn’t reach the window, and once they glaze, you’re not getting them back in one lap around here.
“I don’t know if it’s the same problem as before — it’s not the same,” he said, searching for a thread to pull on. “The rears are at a place that I can’t get to temperature for them to stop that.” On a day when he also complained that “you can’t overtake” around Interlagos — a harsh read on a circuit that usually rewards bravery into Turn 1 — Hamilton didn’t dress up his prospects from P13. “I’ll just do what I can tomorrow… I’m not expecting anything to be honest. It’s another write-off weekend, I guess.”
It’s a jarring contrast to the other red car. Charles Leclerc hustled the sister SF-25 to third, keeping himself in play for another podium as he continues to stitch together a quiet run of results. “We’re starting in a good position,” he said. “If we manage to stay P3 or P2 or P1 after the start, then that will help us.” Same car, very different Saturday — and that’ll sting in Hamilton’s camp, especially with a live fight in the Constructors’ standings still shaping the final flyaways.
Ferrari came to São Paulo thinking its package would suit the bumps and the battering of Interlagos. On Leclerc’s side, it largely did. Hamilton, though, wrestled the rear all afternoon. When these Pirellis fall the wrong side of the curve, they can make even the greats look ordinary. That’s not to absolve Ferrari: getting the tyre into its window is the job, and the radio traffic betrayed a crew too often reacting, not anticipating.
The Ferrari–Hamilton relationship is still in its first season, and days like this are part of the learning. The SF-25 has shown a broad setup range this year, but it’s also picky about tyre prep. Whether Ferrari trimmed out too much rear support, misjudged surface evolution, or simply got caught by temperature swings, the result was the same: a car that wouldn’t secure its rear and a driver forced to tip-toe where he wanted to attack.
Hamilton knows what Interlagos can give back on Sundays — he’s made a career out of turning bad grids into good results here — but he also sounded unusually fatalistic. Maybe that’s realism: from the tight midfield of 2025, P13 is a trench, and the margins are razor-thin. Strategy and clean air become your lifelines.
Up front, Norris set the pace and Leclerc is tucked right behind the front row fight. Ferrari will spend the night split-screening: one car pointing at a podium, the other digging for damage limitation and a way to wake up those rears on an out-lap.
It wasn’t the statement Saturday Ferrari wanted. For Hamilton, it wasn’t close. Sunday offers a chance for a reset — if they can solve the one thing that defined his day: getting the tyres to work when it counts.
