"There was not one second I was comfortable in the car", claims Hamilton following a tough weekend in Jeddah

Having suffered a difficult weekend at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Ferrari's seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton has opened up about his issues with the SF25, suggesting that he suffered from a lack of consistency across all days of the Jeddah weekend.

Ferrari appeared to struggle for pace across the practice sessions, and so significant were their struggles that Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were forced to bolt on a second set of fresh softs in Q1 to progress into the middle segment of qualifying.

However, the SF25 came in the race alive.Leclerc started on the medium and managed to run a very long opening stint, managing his tyres better than any other drivers.

The Monegasque then switched to the hard for his final stint, and although he dropped down the order, he enjoyed a big tyre offset and was able to get past Russell. In the closing stages, Leclerc was forced to hold off a late charge from Norris, but he managed to bag his first podium of the season.

His team-mate Hamilton also started on the mediums, and he also tried to extend his first stint. He was unfortunate tough as he lost crucial time when Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen overtook him on their fresh tyres.

He displayed a great pace on his second stint, and closed in on his Mercedes replacement Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but he was unable to move any further forward than P7.

Commenting on his race weekend in Jeddah, the seven-time F1 world champion said that his car lacked consistency over all three days which has made it impossible for him to deliver a solid performance.

"It was a challenging weekend with a lack of pace and consistency across the three days. The start of the Grand Prix was solid, but I had to manage the front tyres in the first stint.

"The second half showed some improvement, closing the gap to Kimi (Antonelli). I’m focused on working with the team and seeing what we can bring to Miami. Huge congratulations to Charles and the team for a well-deserved podium."

Hamilton was asked if there were some positives he could take from his second stint after his tyre stop, and whether he was more comfortable, to which he said: “No. There was not one second [I was comfortable].

"It was horrible, I didn't enjoy it. In the first stint, I had massive understeer and the car was not turning and then in the second stint, I had slightly better balance.

"I'm struggling with balance, struggling to feel the car beneath me, but there is no particular thing to say: 'Hey, this is the issue. Well, clearly the car is capable of being P3, so Charles did a great job today – so I can't blame it on the car," concluded Hamilton.