'I'm not going to give up': Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton dismisses Ferrari exit rumours
Lewis Hamilton has been linked to a shock exit from his new team Ferrari after a string of disastrous weekends in the early races of the 2025 season.
The troubled start has left those in the paddock believing the 40-year-old may retire at the end of the season if performance does not improve, but Hamilton has been quick to dispel those rumours.
Coming into the first American race of the season in Miami, Ferrari trail in fourth with a deficit of 110 points behind leaders McLaren in the constructors standings.
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"Please keep your fingers crossed. I'm not going to give up," Hamilton told fans at a London event during a weekend break between races.
"We're going to keep getting better. Still we rise, right?"
His positivity coming into the second sprint weekend of the year calls back to Hamilton's glimpse of potential in China with a pole position to sprint race victory, but he quickly went from zero to hero after Ferrari's double disqualification in the main race.
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain holds up the trophy to celebrate winning the sprint race of the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit. Getty
Since then, neither team or driver have been able to capitalise on pace in any other weekend, leaving Hamilton coming into Miami with paddock media putting doubt on his seat with the Scuderia.
Hamilton's comments come days after Ralf Schumacher spoke again on Hamilton's Ferrari woes, having previously slammed the team for their 'incompetent' weekend in China.
"He just can't cope with the car," Schumacher said on Sky Germany's Backstage Pit Lane podcast.
"We talk a lot about Lando Norris [and his lack of belief], but it's almost worse with him.
"You can see that he's really slumped over. If you're standing there at some point and have no more resources and are permanently slower, then you lose everything.
"I know from my own experience: if it goes on like this, it's no fun anymore.
"Then at some point, he wakes up in the morning and thinks to himself: 'Why am I doing this to myself? I'm no longer having fun, I can't do it anymore. I'm getting in the way of my team'.
"If it goes on like this, there's a risk that at some point he'll say: 'Look, I don't want this anymore. I want to live my life now, I'm 40 years old. I'm so rich, I'm not doing this to myself anymore. Obviously it's not working out for some reason'.
"It's a huge project that Ferrari and Hamilton had in mind, but at the moment he's a long way away from Charles Leclerc.
"I wouldn't have thought it would be so extreme.
"However, China also showed that as soon as he gets into the car and the track and the car suit him, he delivers.
"There's still something to come."
Zhou Guanyu of China and Scuderia Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari and Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal of Scuderia Ferrari stand in tribute to the late Eddie Jordan prior to the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 23, 2025 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) Formula 1 via Getty Images
Ex-Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari agreed with the brother of F1's only other seven time world champion Michael Schumacher, making a shock call early in the season about a Hamilton exit.
"I have the feeling that Hamilton, he's going to leave," Alguersuari said on the After Lap podcast.
"But I have the feeling that he's like, his time has passed, that he's already won a lot, that he's already won everything and that he's saying: 'OK, I've gone to Ferrari to try and see what happens in 2026.'
"Ferrari is not a winning team. A team is a team that wins races, but it is not a winning team. They have not won since 2008.
"They may have a competitive car, they may have a competitive team, but they don't have a winning team. There is a difference."
Team principal Fred Vasseur has continually backed Hamilton, arguing his slump in performance will not lead the team to think about dropping the seven time world champion.
He hit back at media in Saudi Arabia after Hamilton's 'horrible' performance and called all the noise around the dramatic drop in form 'f---ing bullshit'.
Ferrari and Hamilton inked a multi-year contract in February of last year which is believed to commit the two until the end of the 2026 season.
The Miami Grand Prix begins this weekend in Hard Rock Stadium and is the second sprint race weekend of the year, with Saturday's race consisting of 19 laps compared to Sunday's 57 for the main race.
This will allow Ferrari to run their car at a more optimum set up with a lower fuel requirement to improve their dismal pace.
