Lewis Hamilton Brands Qatar GP As “One of the Worst Grand Prix’s” over tire rule

Lewis Hamilton boldly claimed that the Qatar GP was one of the poorest races in terms of strategy because of the two-pit-stop rule.

Lewis Hamilton Brands Qatar GP As “One of the Worst Grand Prix’s” over tire rule

Lewis Hamilton (via Getty)

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Formula 1 had announced a mandated two-pit-stop rule at the Qatar GP. Moreover, Pirelli had developed a special medium tire compound that could only run a maximum of 25 laps throughout the race. As such, the drivers and teams had to stick to some awkward strategies and decisions. Now, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton has fired some shots at the rule change and branded the race as one of the worst.

Lewis Hamilton is suffering from massive performance issues in his debut year with Ferrari. The Briton had already labeled his year with Maranello as a nightmare. Moreover, he suffered from a streak of Q1 Qualifying eliminations since the Las Vegas GP. Hamilton also could only manage a P18 start for the Qatar GP and ultimately finished in P12.

Speaking on the mandated two-pit-stop rule at the Qatar GP, Lewis Hamilton had some critical comments. Hamilton recalled that he couldn’t recall all the races in his career, as there were definitely some bad ones. However, the recent Qatar race was definitely one of the worst grand prixs from a strategy standpoint.

Lewis Hamilton noted that everyone was stopping and pitting at the same time in the race at around the 25-lap mark, and there wasn’t much flexibility in strategy. Moreover, drivers were unable to overtake on the fast layout of the Lusail Circuit, which caused some poor racing action throughout the race. The seven-time champion drew a parallel to the Monaco GP, which is an iconic circuit but has very poor racing despite its massive success.

I can’t remember another, I’m sure there’s been other races, other bad races here, but definitely one of the worst grands prix in that respect, Because everyone’s just stopping at the same time, and there’s no flexibility. And then on top of that, you can’t overtake, and it’s a fast track, it’s a phenomenal track to drive, and it’s very, very fast, it’s just, unfortunately, like Monaco.

Lewis Hamilton said, as reported by motorsport.com.

Lewis Hamilton labels ground-effect era cars as “worst designed”

The 2026 season will have new regulations for the cars and power units as Lewis Hamilton hopes to put the ground-effect era behind him. Notably, the 2022-2026 regulations have been the worst for Hamilton, as he achieved only two wins over the entire regulation era. The 40-year-old pointed out that he was looking forward to the next generation and how the cars in this era were the worst-designed.

Lewis Hamilton (via F1)
Lewis Hamilton (via F1)

Lewis Hamilton noted that he was looking forward to the next generation as the current one was the worst one as far as he could remember. Hamilton reckoned that the 2009 generation might have been just as bad, but the cars had better grip back then. Further, the seven-time champion highlighted that the ground-effect era caused the worst racing action on track, and it was difficult for him to excel in races.

I’m excited for a new generation of car because this has been the worst designed one that I remember, probably at least in my phase. Maybe the 2009 generation was pretty bad also but at least we had better tyres and better grip. This one, just with the bouncing and stiffness, all these mix of things, it’s just not been an enjoyable period and we had the worst racing.

Lewis Hamilton said in a post-race interview.

Certainly, the 2025 season was the worst of the entire ground-effect era regulations for Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time champion has shifted his priority to the upcoming season and coming up as a winning force by then. Hence, it will be interesting to witness how Hamilton manages to turn around in his disastrous outing with Ferrari.

Read More: Toto Wolff Breaks Silence on Red Bull’s “Utter Nonsense” Accusations at Qatar