Nico Rosberg says Lewis Hamilton finds himself in an “incredibly hard” situation after his difficult first season at Ferrari but that F1’s big 2026 rules overhaul still represents a “huge hope” to turn the situation around.
Hamilton’s early-anticipated first year driving for F1’s most-famous team ultimately yielded few highlights on track, with the 40-year-old finishing a season without a podium for the first time in his 19-year career.
Rosberg, Hamilton’s former team-mate and title rival at Mercedes who has known the Briton since childhood, described the Ferrari driver’s year as “painful”.
Speaking to Sky Sports News during the Abu Dhabi GP season finale when Hamilton dropped out in the first stage of qualifying for the third event running, Rosberg said: “He’s faced all the challenges in the world already. This is not the biggest but this is an incredibly hard one.
“He’s stuck because he can’t quit. That would be a big loss of face.
“It’s horrible unfortunately. He’s the greatest of all-time and it’s not a worthy end to the incredible legacy and that’s painful for him.
“His car hasn’t been good and I wouldn’t want to be in his position.”
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Sky Sports’ Nico Rosberg, Martin Brundle and Simon Lazenby discuss what’s next for Lewis Hamilton after his tough first year at Ferrari
Hamilton is on a multi-year contact at Ferrari which at least runs until the end of 2026.
Rosberg added on Sky Sports F1: “I think he has to continue. Stopping now is not cool.
“He only just started this Ferrari project. To give up after only one season doesn’t work.
“He has to continue, give it another shot and hope he feels comfortable in that next-year car.
“Maybe the car is a good car? This year’s car is not great.”
Will F1’s big ‘reset’ prove timely for Hamilton and Ferrari?
Hamilton described the 2022-2025 generation of ground-effect cars as “probably the worst” he had driven during his time in F1.
The four-season era saw him add just two race wins and one Grand Prix pole position to his all-time record tallies, while he finished behind his team-mate in the Drivers’ Championship in three of the four campaigns.
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Lewis Hamilton says the 2025 season has demonstrated his resilience and reveals plans to shake up the team around him ahead of the 2026 season
Rosberg says Hamilton now has to hope the next era of regulations from 2026 proves more favourable for both him and Ferrari, who failed to win a race this year and slipped to fourth in the standings.
“The big thing is the regulations are changing,” said the 2016 world champion.
“That’s his huge hope. It’s a reset. The car could be a winning car next year.
“He could suddenly feel much more comfortable in the car. He hasn’t felt comfortable this year.”
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Lewis Hamilton says the his support network of family and fans has helped him through a disappointing first season at Ferrari
Rosberg said that Hamilton also needed to make a step change in his qualifying form.
The Briton has now suffered consecutive large 19-5 intra-team defeats in qualifying to George Russell at Mercedes and Charles Leclerc at Ferrari in the past two seasons, respectively.
“His great struggle this year was qualifying pace. In the race, there were flashes of brilliance that we kept seeing,” added Rosberg.
“It’s just qualifying pace and with the car being so different next year, maybe he can find some of that old magic again in qualifying.”
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