Lewis Hamilton says he has no explanation for his lack of pace at Ferrari as his poor start to the season continued at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished seventh, failing to move up any places after qualifying, and finished 31 seconds behind team-mate Charles Leclerc, who got Ferrari's first podium of the season with third position.

The seven-time world champion is seventh in the driver standings, already 68 points behind leader Oscar Piastri.

And he did not hold back in his self-criticism.

"It was horrible, not enjoyable at all," said Hamilton. "I was just sliding around. It's pretty bad.

"There's no particular thing, nothing to say: 'Hey, this is the issue.'"

The Briton expected these problems to persist in Miami in two weeks' time and was unsure whether things could improve from now until the end of the season.

"I don't know how much longer I'll struggle for but it's definitely painful. Just going to try and improve from week to week."

Hamilton was particularly downcast about his chances for the rest of the campaign, too.

He added: "At the moment there is no fix so this is how it's going to be for the rest or the year. It's going to be painful."

Hamilton's best showing at Ferrari in the opening weeks was his sprint pole and victory in China, but when asked why the car had pace then and not now, he said: "I don't have an answer."

More points in the bag Continuing to push pic.twitter.com/4UKXqgGeb5

— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) April 20, 2025

On the other hand, Leclerc drove his best race of the season so far, with a long first stint on the medium tyres allowing him to catch Mercedes' George Russell.

In sharp contrast to Hamilton, Leclerc was fully satisfied with the output, but wants the team to focus on improving their pace in qualifying so they can fight for more podiums and wins in the future.

He said: "I feel like we've maximised absolutely everything we could have this weekend.

"We need to focus on qualifying because it's been a very long time I haven't been as happy with the car balance.

"I feel very at ease with the car in a way that I know I can extract the maximum out of the car more often than not, but unfortunately, the car potential is just not good enough to fight for better in qualifying."