“Are the others struggling?” How Hamilton ended up half a minute behind Leclerc in Jeddah

Lewis Hamilton’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was a familiar story from his opening rounds of the 2025 season, as his radio chatter sounded more like a coaching session than a grand prix.

The Ferrari driver, in his fifth grand prix for the team, continued to prompt race engineer Ricardo Adami for guidance on where he was losing time to his team mate Charles Leclerc. In this race Hamilton’s deficit accumulated to more than half a minute.

It might have been slightly less had he not fought Lando Norris so hard early in the race. The time lost surely cost Norris the chance to attack Hamilton’s team mate Charles Leclerc for third place. But it also delayed Hamilton, who might have drawn within range of sixth-placed Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the driver who now occupies the Mercedes he drove last year.

After Hamilton took the chequered flag, Adami gave a positive assessment of his performance in the race. Hamilton kept his counsel over how he thought he’d done.

Hamilton’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix radio

Jump to:

First stint: Mediums
Second stint: Hards
Finish

First stint: Mediums

There were several occasions during the race where Hamilton didn’t immediately understand what Adami was telling him.

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When Hamilton’s tyres began to go off his team advised him they couldn’t pit him right away because he would rejoin the track in too much traffic.

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Lap: 1/50 HAM: 2’12.474
Adami	Reset your brake balance. Reset your brake balance.
Adami	Safety Car, and staying out.
Adami	Charge button on. Good start. Good job.
Lap: 2/50 HAM: 2’43.542
Hamilton	Is everyone okay?
Adami	Everyone okay, double yellow turn four.
Adami	And target between minus 25.
Hamilton	Sorry?
Adami	You can target 70, 75 on the dash, on the tyres
Adami	Tsunoda is retiring. Behind you Sainz, Norris, Albon P9 and Alonso P10. Work on your front tyres.
Lap: 6/50 HAM: 1’34.459
Adami	Higher peak, higher peak suggest for turn 13, one-three. And don’t push the entry in 22.
Hamilton	Understood.
Lap: 7/50 HAM: 1’34.994
Adami	Norris two seconds behind. Suggest engine braking three.
Hamilton	Where am I losing? Struggling.
Lap: 8/50 HAM: 1’34.444
Adami	Mainly high-speed.
Adami	And 13 apex speed, one-three.
Adami	Better first sector, two-tenths faster than Antonelli ahead.
Hamilton	Apex speed is okay at turn [unclear] two?
Adami	Turn 22 to improve, two-tenths to be found.
Lap: 9/50 HAM: 1’34.460
Hamilton	Apex speed?
Adami	Apex speed, yeah.
Lap: 10/50 HAM: 1’34.580
Adami	Diff mid three might help.
Adami	Switch yellow. 22 was better.

Towards the end of his first stint Hamilton had to deal with the leaders emerging from the pits behind him on fresh tyres. Piastri got past him around the outside of turn 21, though Hamilton tried without success to attack him back. Verstappen passed him at the final corner soon afterwards.

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Lap: 11/50 HAM: 1’34.456
Adami	And tyre phase update when you can.
Adami	Think about engine braking four, engine braking four.
Adami	Verstappen 34.0 and Charles 34.3. Norris behind 34.1
Lap: 12/50 HAM: 1’35.310
Hamilton	The rears are dropping.
Adami	There’s no good traffic gap behind.
Hamilton	My rears feel they’re fading. Norris passes him at the final corner, Hamilton repasses on the pit straight. The same happens again on the next lap
Lap: 14/50 HAM: 1’34.818
Hamilton	Yeah the rears are dropping. Really hard.
Adami	Go back to engine braking three to help.
Lap: 15/50 HAM: 1’35.832
Hamilton	Norris passes him on the pit straight I’m just sliding around out here, mate. Can’t turn rears.
Adami	Okay understood, we believe it’s overheating and you’ll get them back
Hamilton	Are the others struggling or not?
Adami	Deg is higher than expected on the medium.
Adami	Need to improve 22, apex speed and better exit, Charles lap time 34.3.
Lap: 16/50 HAM: 1’34.955
Adami	Try b-mig three and diff entry seven.
Lap: 17/50 HAM: 1’34.686
Adami	Turn 22 was slightly better
Hamilton	Give me the pace of the cars ahead, mate. Need some more information.
Adami	Verstappen 33.7, 33.7.
Hamilton	No, cars ahead of me, mate.
Adami	Understood. Norris 34.2, Antonelli 34.7
Lap: 18/50 HAM: 1’34.592
Hamilton	Front sliding a lot in high-speed.
Adami	Okay understood. Antonelli 35.0. And think about diff entry three, direction.
Adami	Try to improve the peak into 22 for a better exit. This lap is good. Antonelli 35.2.
Lap: 19/50 HAM: 1’34.892
Adami	Don’t push the entry in 13, one-three. Antonelli car ahead, 2.7
Adami	That was a good 13, good job.
Hamilton	I lost two tenths.
Adami	You have [unclear] Charles in 13, for info. And Charles lap time 35.5. 34.5, sorry, 34.5.

Lap: 20/50 HAM: 1’34.720
Adami	And Piastri boxed. He’s getting out of the pits.
Hamilton	Antonelli’s in.
Adami	Charles lap time 34.4. Piastri passes him at turn 21
Lap: 21/50 HAM: 1’35.128
Adami	Hamilton attacks Piastri on the outside at turn 27 but doesn’t re-pass him And staying out, staying out
Lap: 22/50 HAM: 1’35.569
Hamilton	Definitely need front wing.
Adami	Okay, copy.
Hamilton	Understeering too much.
Adami	Verstappen 1.1 behind. Understood.
Adami	Try to improve brake peak in 22 and 16.

Second stint: Hards

Again Hamilton didn’t immediately understand that he was being advised to take it easy on his new hard tyres at the beginning of the stint so that they wouldn’t go off too soon.

Hamilton constantly asked for feedback about where Leclerc was finding more time.

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Hamilton began to close on Antonelli as the second stint wore on. Antonelli’s tyres were four laps older than his.

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Lap: 27/50 HAM: 1’33.720
Hamilton	Pace.
Adami	Antonelli 34.0. You can release turn 22, two tenths there.
Lap: 28/50 HAM: 1’33.365
Hamilton	Sectors.
Adami	Turn four to improve apex speed. One tenth and a half turn four.
Adami	Charles still out on the medium, 33.4
Hamilton	Yeah, I’ve got massive deg, mate. My rears are really hot.
Lap: 29/50 HAM: 1’33.810
Adami	Rears are overheating, yeah, try to keep it together.
Adami	This lap was good
Hamilton	Where can I save tyres?
Lap: 30/50 HAM: 1’33.564
Adami	Lap time for Russell 33.4. Antonelli lap time 33.8.
Adami	[Unclear] apex turn four.
Hamilton	Okay.
Adami	Car ahead is Hadjar, he is on the hard, five-and-a-half ahead.
Hamilton	Right-rear particularly getting hot.
Lap: 31/50 HAM: 1’34.392
Adami	Understood. Antonelli 34.4, faster than him.
Lap: 32/50 HAM: 1’33.595
Adami	Diff mid three for deg. Was a first strike in 22.
Lap: 33/50 HAM: 1’33.603
Adami	Antonelli 33.9.
Hamilton	Gap?
Adami	6.8 seconds
Lap: 34/50 HAM: 1’33.876
Adami	And we suggest b-bal 62
Adami	And switch yellow.
Lap: 35/50 HAM: 1’33.564
Adami	That was a good section. Half a second faster than Antonelli, first sector.
Adami	Try to not push [unclear] for a better exit. Antonelli lap time 33.9.

Lap: 36/50 HAM: 1’33.291
Adami	And gap is six and a half.
Adami	Diff entry 10 might help. Good improvement in four. Diff mid four as well, diff mid four.
Lap: 37/50 HAM: 1’33.044
Adami	Antonelli 33.6. 13 laps to go, one-three.
Lap: 38/50 HAM: 1’32.925
Adami	The pace is good. Antonelli 33.7.
Adami	The pace is good, the gap is five seconds. Try to push more in nine and 10.
Lap: 39/50 HAM: 1’33.285
Hamilton	Try to what?
Adami	Push more in nine and 10 if you can.
Adami	Diff high speed four, might help in turn nine.
Lap: 40/50 HAM: 1’32.833
Adami	Gap is 4.4
Lap: 41/50 HAM: 1’33.022
Adami	Gap is four seconds.
Adami	Find one, two tenths in 9 and 10, less trail braking, no trail braking.
Lap: 42/50 HAM: 1’32.640
Adami	Gap three and a half, Antonelli 33.3.
Adami	A very good lap. Gap 3.3. Eight laps to go, we can get him.
Lap: 43/50 HAM: 1’32.600
Adami	Diff high speed five to help you. Antonelli 33.3, gap 2.8.
Lap: 44/50 HAM: 1’32.789
Adami	Six laps to go.
Adami	Gap is 2.2. We could try a left toggle, turn one-two.
Lap: 45/50 HAM: 1’32.821
Adami	You can reset your diff entry, gap 2.0. Four laps to go, think about engine braking two.

Finish

Hamilton couldn’t get any closer to Antonelli over the final laps.

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