Sebastian Vettel defends Lewis Hamilton after difficult Ferrari start

04/18/2025 02:10 AM

Sebastian Vettel has jumped to the defence of Lewis Hamilton and has insisted that he is working incredibly hard to end his Ferrari difficulties.  It has been a mixed start to life at Ferrari for Hamilton whose sole moment of magic in the opening rounds was his sprint pole and victory in China.  The seven-time F1 champion has struggled to adjust to the SF-25, a car unlike any he has previously driven.  Hamilton has already made changes to his steering wheel to make it more similar to what he used at Mercedes. Vettel recognises it as a key area which takes time to adjust to. "Well, I think it's obviously a big step, a big shift in culture," Vettel told Sky Sports F1 . "And I think right now, he's very focused on the racing side and on the car and how the car wants to be driven, and how it feels and so on.  "But I think adaptation is not only driving, I think it's also a lot of the things that happen around the driving whilst you're driving as well. So, to give you examples, the steering wheel, for sure, he's adapted it to the way he likes it, but it's not the one he had.  "These things just take time to really adapt to, and it takes the capacity of your brain, which you had available to you in the past because everything was sort of automatic. So it naturally takes a little bit of time." Hamilton joined Ferrari with huge ambitions, with his transfer often referred to as the biggest in the history of F1.  Many tipped the 40-year-old as a potential title candidate ahead of the season, although his chances have quickly diminished.  Vettel is aware of Hamilton's personal ambitions and that he is likely to be unhappy with his current performances, but has backed him to bounce back. "Of course, I know that he has very high ambitions and very high expectations. So at the minute, I know that he's probably not happy with himself, with how competitive he is. It sort of works on your mind.  "And, he's obviously not the most successful driver by chance, but for many reasons, and he's working, I believe, very hard, to fix all those things and to get back the full capacity that he needs and requires on his driving to race to a level that he's happy with."