Lewis Hamilton has strongly defended Ferrari's decision to halt its aerodynamic development early in the 2025 season.

It comes after team principal Frederic Vasseur revealed that the team had elected to stop its development of the SF-25 from as early as April, with major focus going into the 2026 machine and the regulation overhaul that comes into effect next year.

That decision was not mirrored by McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull, and that saw the Italian team drop down the standings to P4 in the Constructors' Championship.

Hamilton had a difficult debut season with the Scuderia after moving from Mercedes, finishing the 2025 season without a Grand Prix win or podium finish.

Ham - Photo: Race Pictures

"It didn't have a psychological effect on me personally," the Brit started explaining to GPblog in Abu Dhabi.

"I didn't know at the end of the year that we’d be where we are. No one anticipated it, but it felt worse, naturally. But I was a part of it, I was one pushing for it.

"It's like: ‘We can't fall behind the others in terms of that development for the new car.’ It's a steep learning curve for all of us, and so I supported it 100%, I still do.

"I think it was the right decision, particularly with where we were already with the car; we weren't really fighting for a championship. That just meant that it's been harder to maintain the performance that we had at the beginning of the year."

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While Hamilton defended the decision-making made by Ferrari, the seven-time champion believed that the media's criticism of the Scuderia "affected" the team when speaking at the Qatar Grand Prix.

A Grand Prix later at the Yas Marina Circuit, despite the challenging debut year at Ferrari, there were plenty of positives taken by Hamilton before preparation for 2026 gets underway.

"I can't answer the question for the rest of the faults we have at the beginning of the year. I can't answer the question for the rest of the team. I think everyone's said really positive things in my experience, so I've not seen it psychologically."

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