Lewis Hamilton says 'he's doing it the hard way' as Ferrari struggles laid bare

Fifth place at the Bahrain Grand Prix was Lewis Hamilton's best result in a full distance race so far in 2025 but he admits he still has plenty of improvements to make at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton admitted he is still "stuck in his ways" from more than a decade with Mercedes. The seven-time champion is finding it difficult to adapt to new machinery at Ferrari as a result, which has played a role in his slow start to life with the Scuderia.

With the exception of the sprint race in China last month, which he won from pole, Hamilton has found his red car difficult to take. He has experimented with setup options which has led to wild performance swings over the course of race weekends.

And that has made it difficult for the Brit to gain any momentum in his new surroundings. But there were green shoots of recovery in Bahrain as he made progress from ninth on the grid to finish fifth - his best Grand Prix result in a Ferrari to date.

Speaking afterwards, the 40-year-old sounded more upbeat about the progress he has made as he shed more light on the difficulties he has had in forgetting everything he learned in 12 years as a Mercedes driver so he can start to thrive with his new employer.

Hamilton said: "What's clear is, as humans, we get really stuck in our ways and I've been driving the same car with the same team for such a long time. I've moved to a new car and it requires such a different driving style, using engine braking which I've never, ever previously used in my career.

"This car just requires a much different driving style so I'm adjusting to that, and I think I'm slowly getting it into my head. I've got to do a better job through the weekend. I know I can, and I will.

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"I've got to make it easier for myself - I'm doing it all the hard way right now. I think I've figured out how the car likes to drive, so if I can apply that next week and qualify better, I can have a much better weekend."

Hamilton was one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc as they took the chequered flag. And the 22 points they scored between them is the best haul they have managed yet this season - though the Monegasque was still glum as he faced the media after the race.

He had qualified third and inherited second place on the grid as a result of the grid penalty given to George Russell. But he couldn't stay there, losing the place to the Mercedes driver early on before eventually being powerless to stop Lando Norris flying by in the latter stages.

Leclerc finished fourth and said: "We are just not fast enough - that's the summary. We don't have the pace in the car. Mercedes were quite a bit better in terms of degradation to us. The pace was just not there and it's very disappointing when you do everything quite well but it's only P4."