Lewis Hamilton sharply criticised the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix at the Lusail International Circuit near Doha, calling it “probably the worst race ever”. He added that it must have been “pretty bad” for the spectators. For Ferrari boss Frédéric Vasseur, the poor circuit design along with the way the Grand Prix race panned out, described the situation as a “worst-case scenario”, with an early safety car locking the field into identical two-stint runs and making overtaking almost impossible.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff shared these concerns, warning that Formula 1 must avoid fixed strategies and allow competition to unfold naturally instead. For Hamilton, the poor performance, a dire Grand Prix result, combined with a total lack of opportunity to overtake, meant that the British former champion didn’t hold back attacking the Qatar race.

F1 driver trash talk again in Qatar

 

Hamilton clarifies his statements

The Ferrari driver explained: “The track is fast and fantastic to drive on, but unfortunately it’s like Monaco: you can’t overtake.” This was further complicated by Pirelli’s tyre limit of 25 laps per set. Consequently, the teams had “absolutely no flexibility” in their race strategy. “Everyone was pitting at the same time.”

Ferrari boss agreed with his driver, saying: “It meant everyone pitted under yellow and then completed two 25-lap runs on their tyres. And in this case, I don’t think anyone overtook.”

Or are the Formula 1 cars simply to blame for everything? Vasseur points to the low tyre wear in Qatar and the large amount of ‘dirty air’ created when cars follow closely behind: “We saw it on the last lap when Russell had a clear track. He was a second faster. This shows that we are primarily limited by the turbulent air from the car in front rather than anything else.”

According to Hamilton, a longer DRS zone would have been needed on the main straight in Qatar. He himself raised the issue in the drivers’ briefing on Friday.

“You saw last year that there was no overtaking. Why didn’t you extend the DRS zone?” The response was simply, “We hadn’t thought about that.’ I then asked, ‘What are you actually doing?'”

McLaren’s bizarre reaction to Piastri post Qatar calamity

 

Toto Wolff: Formula 1 must do the exact opposite

The Mercedes team principal also laments the lack of strategic variety in Grand Prix racing. He said: “A mandatory two-stop strategy never works. I experienced that in the DTM, where we tried all the variations: mandatory stops, mandatory stops within a specific timeframe and experimenting with tyres.”

Wolff therefore proposes free competition.

“You have to let the strategies develop. Let people run a one-stop strategy and see how they struggle with degrading tyres while others go for a two-stop strategy and work their way back to the front with pure pace. That’s what’s needed,” he said.

“Extending the DRS zone would be the simplest way to create an overtaking opportunity.” agreeing with his former driver.

However, the Mercedes team principal would go a step further and “make Turn 1 tighter in combination with the DRS zone”. Wolff believes: ‘They should take a look at the layout.”

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Further changes needed, says Hamilton

Hamilton would also like to shorten the pit lane.

“It takes 26 seconds to drive through, but the section at the end of the pit lane seems unnecessarily long. They could bring the pit lane to an earlier end, since it starts extremely early,” he explained.

“This would reduce drive-through time and make pit stops more appealing.”

If Hamilton’s frustration with the Qatar weekend sounded unusually sharp, it may be because far larger questions now loom over his future. According to those close to the team, the mood surrounding Hamilton has changed to the extent that it has sparked serious internal debate about what comes next.

Hamilton’s desperate sounding plea to save his career

 

What next for Hamilton?

There has been growing speculation within Ferrari that Lewis Hamilton may be preparing to leave after just one turbulent season in red. Senior figures at Maranello have described the seven-time world champion as ‘detached’ and ‘already halfway out the door’.

What began as a fairytale partnership, Hamilton finally in the scarlet seat he once dreamed of, has unravelled into a year of rising frustration, mechanical issues, and a level of personal disappointment that the Scuderia never anticipated.

According to insiders, the lively newcomer who joked his way around Fiorano in pre-season has become someone who now strolls the corridors looking defeated and convinced that he cannot turn the project around. Those close to the team say that the tone of private discussions has changed.

Conversations that were once focused on how to help Lewis succeed are now centred on preparing for life after him. Should Hamilton choose to leave early, his departure will almost certainly be marked by the kind of operatic flourish that only Ferrari can truly master. This speculation can only really be amplified after a weekend like Qatar.

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NEXT ARTICLE: McLaren’s bizarre reaction to Piastri post Qatar calamity

How papaya rules cost McLaren dear and Piastri is abandoned come the end of the race – One ironic soul in the TJ13 family observed of McLaren’s efforts in Qatar, they clearly have shares in Netflix ‘drive to Survive’ Formula One TV series. The calamity in the middle eastern desert is the second week in the row the Woking based team have gifted Red Bull and Max Verstappen the chance to slash the deficit in the drivers’ championship and the reaction from team boss Andrea Stella reveals papaya rules were at the heart of their huge mistake.

With Pirelli mandating no tyre could be run former than 25 laps, the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix was effectively forced into at least a two stop race. Teams strategised into the night on Saturday to determine their responses to various outcomes during the race on Sunday.

Qatar has a 100% record of seeing a safety car deployed and when the F1 gods wrote the script for the Grand Prix, lap 7 was the perfect time for Bern Mylander to take to the track. A coming together between Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly left carbon fibre strewn across the lap at turn two. It was immediately obvious to all that a safety car would be deployed to cover the clear up.

 

When “papaya rules” went bad

The leaders were less than a quarter of the way around the lap at the time and had plenty of opportunity to debate what to do. Lap 7 was the earliest opportunity for any driver to pit and retain the ability to just two stop and given the limited laps the tyres were allowed to run, the two remaining 25 lap stints were never going to create excessive tyre degradation.

McLaren have lived and died by their ‘papaya rules’ this season which insist the team will be fair to both its drivers when it comes to racing and the championship. For their strategy team any pint stop under a safety car would need to ensure both drivers could be serviced without one being disadvantaged.

The team even switched their drivers around on track, following one being disadvantaged by the pit stop crew taking five seconds to service Lando Norris in Monza. Their extreme ‘meddling’ has been a paddock talking point all year and the issuing ‘consequences’ to Lando Norris for a racing incident in Singapore saw some F1 analysts question the team’s grip on reality.

When the safety car came out on lap 7 in Qatar, Andrea Stella revealed the team strategists didn’t believe they could stack Norris behind Piastri without disadvantaging his position as one of the reasons they failed to pit for fresh rubber…READ MORE ON THIS STORY