Lewis Hamilton insists that Ferrari’s 2025 campaign can still be counted as a "huge achievement" if the Scuderia manages to finish within the top three of the Drivers' Championship, urging skeptics to focus on the positives despite the recent setbacks. The dream of clinching the world title has faded for both Hamilton and Ferrari after a string of disappointing results. The seven‑time champion has not stood on a podium since the British Grand Prix in early July, and the team’s hopes of a championship showdown have dwindled. The situation worsened at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, where Hamilton suffered his first retirement of the season.

That DNF dropped him more than 100 points behind the points leader, Kimi Antonelli, marking the first time this year that the gap between them exceeded a century of points. Antonelli now leads the standings by 81 points over his Mercedes teammate, George Russell. When asked about his own title chances ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – the 15th round of a 23‑race calendar – Hamilton replied with a mix of realism and optimism: "Well, I mean, he's 101 points ahead of me.

In just two races he gained about 40‑plus points on me, and we’ve been working so hard to claw back a few points here and there. There’s still a long way to go, and I think the focus for me is, if we can hold on to second – if not somehow catch Mercedes – for the constructors' championship, that would be remarkable." He continued, "I think it’s also about remembering where we were last year and where we are now. While the narrative sometimes sounds doom‑and‑gloom, you really have to look at the positives." Ferrari endured a winless season in 2025 and slipped to fourth place in the Constructors' Championship.

Hamilton’s first year in the red car has been unusually barren, with no podium finishes until his breakthrough win at the Spanish Grand Prix in June. Two races later, Charles Leclerc secured a victory at Silverstone, giving the team a much‑needed morale boost. Hamilton added, "We’ve been fighting, we’ve had wins and podiums, the team have done an incredible job in terms of bringing upgrades, so you really have to acknowledge the good things that we’ve done this year.

I know lots of people focus on the negatives. For me, again, if I can battle with George and somehow get ahead of him – which would be very difficult as Mercedes are the leaders – then ending the year in the top three, even second, would be a huge achievement for us as a team." Currently, Hamilton trails Russell by 20 points in the drivers' standings.

While Ferrari has shown flashes of speed in qualifying and early race phases, strategic blunders and operational hiccups have repeatedly undermined their results. "There are positives to take from the last few races, but they haven’t been the best in terms of execution and we haven’t gotten the best results," Hamilton said. "The positives we take forward and we try to learn from the areas where we weren’t as good. I believe we can make improvements and I think we have.

I’m excited for this weekend." The Spanish Grand Prix also highlighted the growing gap between Russell and Antonelli, who has now won two consecutive Grands Prix, bringing his career total to eight victories in an astonishing second season in Formula 1. Russell, who entered the year as the pre‑season favourite, has been open about the challenges of adapting his natural driving style to the brand‑new 2026 cars. Nevertheless, he told reporters in Baku that his progress has been steady: "I’ve been making very good progress and feel confident I can fight for victories again.

It’s important to keep that trend going for the rest of the season and into a relatively stable regulatory winter heading into 2027." He emphasized the need to resolve lingering issues: "I think it is very important to try and resolve some issues, which, as I mentioned before, I think I’ve been pleased with that progress since the summer break. The race pace, which was a weakness, has been substantially better and has been in the mix every single race since the break.

I now feel more comfortable that I can fight for great results. Let’s see from now until the end of the season how the points could fall out. Next year will be pretty similar – not much has changed with the chassis, not much has changed with the power units.

Maybe the tyres will be slightly different. So it’s important I continue to build." Even though he has effectively ruled himself out of the title fight, Russell says his approach to each weekend remains unchanged: "I’m going to keep fighting every single race until it’s mathematically impossible. That doesn’t change how I do my job.

I want to try and win every single race and put it on pole every single race. That’s my goal. That’s what I’m working towards every weekend, and what happens thereafter will be what it will be.

There’s obviously a huge deficit, but it’s not even a consideration right now – performance is the biggest priority." The weekend schedule for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is packed with support series action. On Thursday, September 24, the day starts with F2 practice at 9 am, followed by F2 qualifying, the team bosses’ press conference, and a second F2 practice session before the F1 Show in the afternoon.

Friday, September 25, features the F2 sprint, the third F2 practice, the F2 Feature Race 1, and the build‑up to the Azerbaijan GP qualifying, which takes place at 1 pm. Saturday, September 26, sees the second F2 feature race, the Grand Prix itself at midday, the post‑race reaction, and the final segment of Ted’s Notebook.

All events are also broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event. For fans wanting flexible viewing, Sky Sports can be streamed via the NOW platform with no contract and the ability to cancel at any time. The service recommends using the Chrome browser for the best video player experience.

In summary, Hamilton’s message to the media and fans is clear: despite the setbacks, Ferrari should be judged on the progress they have made, the upgrades they have introduced, and the podiums they have secured. By maintaining a positive outlook and focusing on incremental improvements, the team can still aim for a top‑three finish in the Constructors' standings – an outcome Hamilton believes would be a "huge achievement" for the Scuderia. Meanwhile, Russell remains determined to fight for race wins and pole positions, hoping that the lessons learned this season will translate into stronger performances next year as the regulations settle into a more predictable era.