Lewis Hamilton “definitely” believes that Ferrari has benefited from the introduction of its rear-suspension upgrade.

It was a hotly-anticipated update for the SF-25 which Ferrari had been working on, one which arrived in Belgium. There, Charles Leclerc made the podium, and the following weekend upset McLaren by snatching pole at Hungarian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton confirms Ferrari SF-25 ‘definitely progressing’

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Ferrari had hoped to be title contenders in F1 2025, but it is an ambition which has not been realised.

The team sits P2 in the Constructors’ Championship standings, but runaway leaders McLaren are 299 points up the road and likely marching towards a title double.

Leclerc has been extracting the most performance from Ferrari’s F1 2025 creation, collecting five podiums thus far. Hamilton, meanwhile, is yet to score a top three grand prix result. His adaptation to Ferrari life and machinery remains challenging.

However, Hamilton is pleased with the feeling coming from the upgraded Ferrari.

“The upgrade, I think, is a real positive,” he confirmed to media including PlanetF1.com at the recent Hungarian Grand Prix.

“I think there’s more opportunity to extract more from it, so we’re still fine-tuning it. But Charles did a great job [in Belgium] and obviously got his podium.

“We’re not currently at the pace of the McLaren still. Whether or not we will, I have no idea.”

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc head-to-head in F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

The Hungarian Grand Prix proved quite the rollercoaster of emotion within the Ferrari camp.

For Hamilton, he failed to make the Q3 cut, while Leclerc went on to stun McLaren by claiming his and Ferrari’s first pole of the season.

Leclerc kept his victory hopes alive for much of the race, but faded to a P4 finish. He cut an extremely frustrated figure over that decline, blaming the team for not listening to him over a mystery issue.

Hamilton finished where he started in twelfth, but remained positive about the Ferrari rear-suspension upgrade.

“Yeah, definitely some improvements that we’ve made on the upgrades,” he reaffirmed. “The guys have worked really hard.

“Actually, it’s a shame we’re not as competitive as the guys right at the front.

“But you’ve seen Charles just had a really strong run of the last two races. The car is definitely progressing, so we have to keep trying to extract more from it.”

Leclerc sits fifth in the Drivers’ standings, a position and 42 points ahead of Hamilton.

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