Photo: © IMAGO

Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton suffered a late issue with his Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend having struggled in Barcelona.

The racing legend looked strong in FP1 on Friday morning but come the afternoon was flagging significantly behind team-mate Charles Leclerc, a trend which continued into Saturday’s final practice session.

The Monegasque star made it into the top three fastest drivers in FP3 but Hamilton could only manage ninth fastest.

Just as the session had concluded, the 40-year-old faced a gearbox issue with his SF-25.

Taking to team radio at the end of Saturday’s final practice session, Hamilton said: “Downshift’s not working properly mate. Something’s wrong with the gear shift.”

His Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami then responded, confirming the team would take a look.

Ferrari face troubling Hamilton issue at Spanish GP

Discussing the troubling situation on Sky, Anthony Davidson commented: “It’s odd that you can’t downshift especially this late in the session, that’s worrying times for Ferrari.”

When asked by David Croft if the error could signify a software issue for the Scuderia, former F1 driver Davidson responded: “Well I think he made a change on the steering wheel before he went for the downshift again, but he’s still trundling around very slowly.

“Maybe he had to fare the sensor and then that allowed him to get the shift back but I definitely heard the gearshift go in on the left-hand paddle, that’s your downshift.”

“It does sound incredibly clunky,” he added before the broadcasting duo debated cautiously of Ferrari’s likelihood of replacing Hamilton’s gearbox as the team battles a race against time with the vital qualifying for Sunday’s main event taking place at 4pm local time (CEST) later today (Saturday, May 31).

As the Sky commentary team pondered their options with such a short gap between Saturday’s sessions, Croft suggested: “Well as you don’t get a penalty… we’ve got two hours, forget about trying to fix it just strap in a new gearbox for the session, we’ll investigate the problem next week. That might be the better [option] but it is a race against time.”

Ferrari head into the ninth round of the 2025 campaign just a single point behind third-place holders Red Bull in the constructors’ standings, meaning every point matters in Barcelona as the European triple-header concludes this weekend.

With a stronger driver duo than Christian Horner’s team the Scuderia should have no trouble overtaking Red Bull in Spain but Hamilton’s issue could have hamper their chances in qualifying if it persisted.

However, the issue appeared to sort itself out following the momentary blip on track with Hamilton able to return for qualifying.