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Lewis Hamilton says the results of his first Formula 1 season with Ferrari have been a “nightmare” that he’s “been living for a while”, after a miserable Brazilian Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s maiden Ferrari season has been a rollercoaster that’s gone from a sprint race win in round two at China through numerous lows, to fleeting highs and some recent improved consistency to a miserable weekend in Brazil.
Hamilton was dumped out in Q2 on Saturday and his race was wrecked when he clipped the back of Franco Colapinto’s Alpine, losing enough downforce for Ferrari to retire his car once he’d served his five-second time penalty for the incident - avoiding that punishment turning into a grid penalty for the following race in Las Vegas.
His race had already been compromised at the first turn when he made contact with Carlos Sainz’s Williams on the run through Turn 1 on the opening lap.
“A weekend to forget,” Hamilton said after the race.
“It’s a shame because I love Brazil and every single person in this team, they turn up every week and give it their absolute best, and to come away with nothing, to not finish a race, second time in the year, is really devastating.
“I feel terrible for the team. I’m sorry for my part in qualifying, putting myself in that position. We’ll get back up tomorrow and give it another go.”
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 in a separate interview, Hamilton detailed the toll this season has taken on him.
“It's a nightmare. I've been living it for a while,” Hamilton said.
“The flip between the dream of driving for this amazing team and then the nightmare of the results that we've had. The ups and downs. It's challenging.
“Tomorrow I'll get back up. I'll keep training. I'll keep working with the team.
“I really wanted to get them good points this weekend but I'll come back as strong as I can in the next race and try to recover.”
Hamilton said he’s trying his best to “keep his head above the water and remain positive” for the sake of the team.
“At this point I just got to believe that there's something to come out from all this hardship we've been going through,” Hamilton added.
“I'm sure that we're destined for something positive in future. Maybe we're getting all our bad luck out of the way this year. We won't give up, we'll be pushing.”
Why Hamilton was penalised and why he retired
The stewards judged Hamilton to be “wholly responsible” for the incident with Colapinto, although did find “mitigating factors” that justified reducing the penalty from the standard 10 seconds to five.
“The collision occurred at a low speed differential, did not have an immediate and obvious sporting consequence for the other car, and can be regarded as a relatively light contact,” was the reasoning.
Hamilton felt Colapinto had “moved at the same time”, which led to the unfortunate contact.
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur said Hamilton “lost a huge amount of downforce”, although he wasn’t sure whether that was from the Sainz hit or damage from when Hamilton’s front wing went under his car after the Colapinto clip - or a combination of both.
There was some discussion between Hamilton and his race engineer over whether he should continue.
READ MORE: Why Leclerc disagrees with F1 stewards over Piastri/Antonelli clash
Ultimately, Ferrari made the call to end his race prematurely and save his engine for 2025’s final three races.
“When you are last and you are missing 35 points or 40 points of downforce on the car, I'm not sure that it makes sense to damage the engine that we serve the penalty and stop the car,” Vasseur explained.
