Chandhok warns: ‘Make or break moment’ coming for Hamilton in 2025

08:44, 05 Jun

Updated: 10:13, 05 Jun

byOlly Darcy

Former F1 driver Karun Chandhok believes that Lewis Hamilton's time at Ferrari is "starting to get a bit critical" after another disappointing performance at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Since making the huge move to Ferrari from Mercedes for the 2025 season, the 40-year-old has not been able to find the pace in his SF-25 to fight at the front of the grid.

Just two top-five finishes are all the Brit has been able to collect after nine Grands Prix in the 2025 season, sitting on 71 points, 23 away from his teammate Charles Leclerc, who had already taken three podiums so far.

Hamilton has yet to find himself on the podium in a Grand Prix after the first nine races of the 2025 season.

Hamilton's time at Ferrari starting to get 'critical'

With that being the case, Chandhok believes that something needs to change rapidly for Hamilton.

"I think it's starting to get a bit critical," the former F1 driver said while on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, The F1 Show.

"We're coming into the second-third of the season now, and he's not finding the rhythm, he's not finding the consistency, where week in, week out, he's in a happy place with the car.

"In Imola, he was woeful in qualifying, and suddenly the car's brilliant in the race. And in Monaco, he wasn't quite there; he was a chunk behind Charles throughout," continued the Indian

'A degree of concern' should be felt

There have been a couple of bright sparks for the seven-time world champion at the Scuderia, with a sprint race win at the Chinese Grand Prix, plus a P3 in the Miami Grand Prix sprint race too.

However, his most recent in Barcelona saw him finish P6 behind the Kick Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg, highlighting the imbalance in his performances, something that should be a major worry, Chadhok says.

"I think there's got to be a degree of concern creeping in. I think when you look at the race [in Barcelona], the fact that Charles overtook him and drove away from him quite comfortably, I'd be concerned.

"If I was Lewis, if I was on the Lewis side of the garage, engineers, etc., I'd be concerned, saying, 'Ok, we're nearly halfway through the year now, we need to start understanding, is this a fundamental issue that we need to change the direction of the setup of the car?'

"I'm not disputing the fact that he's still got the ability that he's able to win races. We saw that in China, right? But they need to find a sweet spot for him that every weekend he knows what he's got, and they haven't got that. He's still having too many good days and bad days; the fluctuations are too much," concluded Chandhok.