The Las Vegas qualifying session has turned into a full-blown crisis for Ferrari as both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc tore into the team after suffering catastrophic tire warm-up issues that destroyed their laps and exposed a deeply troubling weakness in the SF25’s design.
What was supposed to be a redemption weekend spiraled into total humiliation.
Hamilton’s problems began the moment he left the garage. On his outlap, he immediately felt the car sliding and struggling to find any grip. The freezing, rain-soaked Las Vegas asphalt kept the intermediates well below their operating window, and every attempt to push only made things worse. The tires continued to cool, entering a cycle of collapse that left the car unpredictable and nearly impossible to manage.
The situation deteriorated even further when Hamilton struck a track cone on a blind corner — an impact that likely damaged the underfloor and disrupted the delicate airflow the SF25 relies on. With the aerodynamic platform compromised, the car became unstable, inconsistent, and completely unreliable at high speed. Any chance of salvaging the lap evaporated, leaving him at the very bottom of the grid.
Leclerc, despite managing to qualify ninth, expressed similar anger after the session. He reported that he simply could not generate tire temperature and had zero confidence in the grip levels from corner to corner. The inconsistent behavior of the SF25 in cold conditions made pushing nearly impossible, and he emphasized that this was not a one-off issue but a persistent flaw the team has struggled with all season.
Ferrari engineers, stunned by the data, identified two major failures after the session:
– The car could not build or retain heat in the tires, pointing to a structural weakness in suspension setup, brake-duct design, and tire energy generation.
– Hamilton’s contact with the cone disrupted underfloor airflow, further destabilizing the car and amplifying the tire issues.
Combined, these factors created a perfect storm that left Ferrari exposed and embarrassed.
For a team fighting to regain championship-level performance, Las Vegas has delivered a brutal wake-up call. Unless Ferrari can fix this foundational flaw, the rest of their season risks slipping away before it even begins.
