Lewis Hamilton left clueless as Ferrari make significant change for Austrian GP

Lewis Hamilton admits he has no idea whether Ferrari's upgrades for this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix will actually make his car any faster. Teams usually have a sense of how much time they might gain when bringing new parts to the race track, but that does not seem to be the case for Ferrari in Spielberg.

Hamilton has struggled for performance in races this season and has spent the last few weeks saying that he cannot wait for his team's first major upgrade of 2025. But, now that it is here, the seven-time Formula 1 champion says Ferrari are unsure about what the results will be.

He said: "Firstly, I am happy that we have an upgrade, it is always exciting to get new pieces on the car. So I'm really grateful for everyone working hard to bring them, but we don't really know the actual effect it is going to have.

"It's not the normal information we're getting of how much load you've added to the car, it is not necessarily clear, but hopefully it will be a step in the right direction, but I wouldn't think we're expecting it to change a huge amount, but fingers crossed it is better."

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Though Hamilton clearly wants more from his car, he has also been highly self-critical at times and doesn't feel he has maximised his performances and results. But he offered an optimistic outlook as he said progress has been made on both fronts.

He added: "I've spoken so much about it, so I don't particularly want to give you more insight into it, because, and I am not making excuses, we were second in the constructors' before the last race, and we've had many problems in both sides, driver and car, but we are working towards it.

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"The positive is that we are making improvements, we are progressing, whether or not you see that is not necessarily important to me. Personally, I feel like I am making progress, we are making progress, and that is what is most important."

With McLaren dominating the season, Ferrari are looking more towards 2026 as an opportunity to mount a proper challenge for F1 glory. The next season will come with a whole heap of new regulations which will completely change how the cars are to drive and, after his first simulation test of the design this week, Hamilton's team-mate Charles Leclerc did not sound too thrilled with what he experienced.

The Monegasque said: "Let's say it's not the most enjoyable race car I've driven so far, but we are still in a moment where the project is relatively new. My hope relies on the fact that it will evolve quite a bit in the next few months, but I think it's no secret that I think the regulations for next year are going to be a lot, probably, less enjoyable for drivers to drive.

"So yeah, I'm not a big fan of it for now. But it's the way it is. At the end of the day I think there's a challenge, and I would like the challenge of maximising a very different car to what it is at the moment. But do I enjoy it? Probably not."