Lewis Hamilton revealed he went into his 2025 debut with Ferrari last year carrying a neck injury after a crash during preseason testing.
Hamilton claimed victory at the the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix two weeks ago, his first victory since joining the team.
It marked a remarkable turnaround after his miserable first season in red, which saw him fail to score a single grand prix podium finish.
The seven-time world champion said his preparation for his stint racing with Ferrari was hampered by a bad crash in a TPC test in Barcelona in late January 2025.
“I hit the wall very hard last year in testing. Knocked out one of the discs in my neck, which was into the nerve,” Hamilton said ahead of Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
“So, I couldn’t do a lot for like nine weeks. I was having chiropractors every day, physically every day I couldn’t sleep. I had painkillers, I had to get an injection, I did everything I could to try to fix it. So that’s what I was basically trying to live with. It’s not easy in the position that you’re sitting in.”
Hamilton’s first Ferrari year started well enough, with a sprint race pole and victory at the second race of the year, but his form spiralled from that point on.
By the middle of the year, he infamously had declared himself to be “useless” and suggested Ferrari should sack him after a poor qualifying session in Hungary.
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The Brit has appeared to be a man rejuvenated this season and he lies second in the championship behind the man who replaced him at Mercedes, teenager Kimi Antonelli.
Despite his recent breakthrough victory and the Ferrari engine upgrades available to the team this weekend, Hamilton has downplayed his place in the title battle -- adding during his Thursday media session that “I’m just really not thinking that I’m competing for a championship.”
Hamilton’s Barcelona win was a record-extending 106th in Formula 1.
He is looking to help Ferrari end a title drought stretching back to the 2008 season.
