Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton has vowed to \u201ckeep going even when it\u2019s difficult\u201d ahead of the resumption of the F1 2025 season at the Dutch Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Hamilton has endured a challenging first season at Ferrari, failing to register a podium across his first 14 appearances for his new team.<\/p>\n
Lewis Hamilton: \u2018We have to keep going even when it\u2019s difficult\u2019<\/p>\n
The seven-time World Champion\u2019s season slumped to a new low at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the final race before the summer break, earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Hamilton could only manage 12th on the grid in Budapest on a day team-mate Charles Leclerc claimed Ferrari\u2019s first pole position of the season.<\/p>\n
Hamilton cut a dejected figure after qualifying, repeatedly referring himself as \u201cuseless\u201d before suggesting that the team should consider replacing him.<\/p>\n
Lewis Hamilton vs Charles Leclerc: Ferrari head-to-head scores for F1 2025<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n He remained downbeat after the race the following day when he appeared to cast doubt on his participation in the rest of the F1 2025 season, quipping that he would \u201chopefully\u201d be back after the summer break.<\/p>\n Hamilton, who previously hinted that he could sit out the end of his final season<\/a> with Mercedes in 2024, later clarified his position<\/a>, insisting that \u201cthe fight\u2019s not over\u201d and appealing to his fans to \u201cdon\u2019t count me out.\u201d<\/p>\n In a fresh update on social media on Monday morning, Hamilton vowed to \u201ckeep going even when it\u2019s difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n He wrote: \u201cI\u2019m always so grateful for this time, for the opportunity to rest and recharge.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot I\u2019ve been meditating on. Every one of us is up against so much, both individually and globally.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so important that we embrace the light of truth and love and take care of ourselves so that we can better take care of others.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t look away. We have to keep going, even when it\u2019s difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n Hamilton\u2019s comments come just days after Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, claimed that the seven-time World Champion<\/a> \u201cexaggerates the problems he sees\u201d with the SF-25 car, with his \u201cextreme\u201d comments to the media only worsening the situation.<\/p>\n Asked how he can help make Hamilton more comfortable at Ferrari, Vasseur told German publication Auto Motor und Sport:\u00a0\u201cStay calm.<\/p>\n \u201cBuild on the fact that he has already taken the first step. Don\u2019t let things like what happened in Budapest get you down.<\/p>\n \u201cLewis is very self-critical. He is always extreme in his reactions. Sometimes he is too hard on the car, sometimes on himself.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wants to get the most out of himself and everyone in the team.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to calm him down and explain to him that in Q2 [in Hungary] he was only a tenth of a second behind the driver [Leclerc] who later took pole position. That\u2019s no big deal.<\/p>\n \u201cThe message he sends out only makes things worse.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the time, he\u2019s only that extreme with the press. By the time he comes into the briefing room, he\u2019s usually calmed down again. That\u2019s just his way.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it\u2019s no big deal. He demands a lot. From others, but also from himself. I can live with that.<\/p>\n \u201cNico Hulkenberg was the same when he drove for me in Formula 3. He demanded an awful lot from the team, but he was also there every morning at 6.30 a.m.\u201d<\/p>\n He added:\u00a0\u201cWe solve the problems step by step. They\u2019re not huge, they just look that way.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the braking system isn\u2019t quite how the driver would like it, then maybe half a tenth is lost there.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the outside, it\u2019s often difficult to quickly identify exactly where he\u2019s losing that half-tenth.<\/p>\n \u201cSuch a minimal time difference can ruin your whole weekend. It can be the difference between Q2 and Q3.<\/p>\n \u201cLewis sometimes exaggerates the problems he sees in the car.<\/p>\n \u201cThe team then naturally wants to respond and everyone jumps on the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n More on Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Lewis Hamilton news<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Ferrari news<\/a><\/p>\n It is unclear if relations between Hamilton and Vasseur, who oversaw the driver\u2019s title-winning GP2 season as boss of the ART Grand Prix team in 2006, have become strained as the F1 2025 campaign has developed.<\/p>\n In the aftermath of the Miami Grand Prix in May, Hamilton revealed publicly that he told Vasseur<\/a> to \u201ccalm down\u201d and \u201cdon\u2019t be so sensitive\u201d after a race in which he was heard having a number of tense exchanges with his race engineer, Riccardo Adami, over team radio.<\/p>\n Vasseur and Hamilton were also spotted having an animated discussion inside Ferrari\u2019s hospitality unit after the race in Florida.<\/p>\n However, Hamilton spoke in support of Vasseur when reports emerged at the Canadian Grand Prix in June that the team boss\u2019s position was under threat, claiming the Frenchman is \u201cthe main reason\u201d he joined Ferrari.<\/p>\n Vasseur went on to sign a multi-year contract extension<\/a> with Ferrari on the eve of the Hungarian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n