Lewis Hamilton devastated after Hungary qualifying: 'I’m useless'

Over the course of 2025, the British driver has worked to acclimatise to his new team and package at Ferrari.

There have been some encouraging signs, with his impressive recovery last weekend in Belgium one of his more positive exploits in red.

Despite this, Hamilton has often been unable to replicate the efforts of teammate Charles Leclerc in qualifying, who leads their 2025 head-to-head 10-4.

Today marked a low point for the 40-year-old, who was knocked out of Q2 and starts 12th, on the same day Leclerc secured Pole Position.

At a track where the Ferrari driver has enjoyed immense success, he was visibly distraught speaking to Sky Sports:

“It’s me every time. I’m useless – absolutely useless.

“The team has no problem, you can see the car is on Pole.

“They probably need to change driver,” a dejected Hamilton concluded.

Ferrari, like most teams, have brought their final significant upgrade packages of 2025 during the last two weeks.

This means, aside from changes to set-up, there will be no drastic changes coming to the SF-25.

For Lewis Hamilton, this means the need to adapt and overcome his first Ferrari challenger is paramount.

Leclerc: Conditions were very challenging in qualifying

For Charles Leclerc, today’s Pole Position – the teams  first of the season – understandably came as a huge surprise.

The 27-year-old admitted the SF-25 was a handful to manage in qualifying, despite setting the fastest time:

“The whole qualifying has been extremely difficult – and when I say that, I’m not exaggerating.

“It was super difficult for us to get into Q2 and Q3.

“In Q3, he conditions changed a little bit – and everything became a lot trickier, and I knew I had to just do a clean lap to target third.

“At the end of the day, it’s Pole Position – and I definitely did not expect that.”

Leclerc’s comments summarise the tricky nature of track conditions at the Hungaroring.

With a spell of rain in Q2 impacting already limited grip levels, there was little margin for error in qualifying.

Hamilton was not the only surprise casualty, with Kimi Antonelli also falling in Q2 – while Yuki Tsunoda was among the first five eliminations, despite being just a tenth behind teammate Verstappen.

With the likes of Aston Martin bringing updates, there is nowhere to hide for even the front-running teams.

As exposed today (and previously in Belgium) poor performances on Saturday will be punished by an increasingly dangerous midfield.

For Leclerc, a strong start tomorrow could be the key to converting Pole Position into victory.

The equation is slightly different for Hamilton, of course, whose Sunday will largely consist of damage limitation.