Lewis Hamilton's dream Formula 1 move to Ferrari results in a nightmare first season

PARIS (AP) — Lewis Hamilton's dream move to Ferrari resulted in a nightmare first season.

The 40-year-old British driver's quest to win a record-breaking eighth Formula 1 title with his new team failed dismally, with Hamilton not even getting on the podium in a Grand Prix race.

Matters became so frustrating that at one point Hamilton suggested Ferrari should replace him with another driver.

Australian driver Jack Brabham was 40 when he won the F1 title in 1966, but Hamilton fell well short of matching that feat.

Hamilton won a short-format sprint race in China in March, but in the 24 main F1 races did not finish higher than fourth. He took no pole positions and placed a disappointing sixth in the F1 standings, a sizable 86 points behind his teammate Charles Leclerc in fifth.

Overall, the former Mercedes star has won only two F1 races over the past four seasons.

His frustration has at times been expressed in curt team radio exchanges during this campaign with Ferrari race engineer Ricciardo Adami. Hamilton sarcastically told him to “have a tea break” during the Miami GP in May.

“ I’m useless, absolutely useless,” Hamilton told British broadcaster Sky Sports after a disappointing qualifying session at the Hungarian GP in early August. “The team have no problem. You’ve seen (Leclerc's) on pole. So they probably need to change driver.”

A few weeks later he sounded more upbeat.

“I just really want to focus on getting back to that enjoyment,” Hamilton said. "I joined the team that I’ve always dreamed of driving for.”

But the season nose-dived further for Hamilton. He made uncommon errors for a driver who owns FI records of 105 wins and 104 pole positions.

He was eliminated from Q1, the first section of qualifying, for the last three races of the season and did not qualify in the top 10 for four consecutive races.

He also crashed in the third practice at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last weekend due to a driver error, losing control of the car's rear and sliding into the barriers.

“I don’t have the words to describe the feeling that I have inside," Hamilton said on Saturday after the crash. “An unbearable amount of anger and rage.”

Qualifying problems persisted for Hamilton.

In July, he qualified 16th at the Belgian GP after his best lap time was scrapped for going off track. The day before, he was 18th in qualifying for the sprint race following a spin.

Earlier that same week, however, Hamilton had spoken with determination and authority. He described holding “ crunch time ” talks with Ferrari’s leaders to demand improvements.

“I’ve sat with John (Elkann, Ferrari’s president), Benedetto (Vigna, CEO) and Fred (Frédéric Vasseur, team principal) in several meetings," Hamilton said at Spa-Francorchamps.

Hamilton even complied a “full document for the team” during the mid-season break, detailing “structural adjustments that we need to make” and “issues that I have with this car.”

All of this input made little difference on the track.

Hamilton finished seventh in Spa, placed 12th in Hungary and did not finish the following race in the Netherlands.

There was another DNF in Brazil last month, followed by finishes of eighth, 12th and eighth to end the season on a low.

Hamilton called the weekend in São Paulo a “nightmare” while Leclerc was “not happy” with his “very slow" car.

Leclerc did not win a race this season either. But the driver from Monaco beat Hamilton 7-0 in podiums and comfortably in the standings.

Following the Braziilian GP a concerned Elkann told both his drivers to “focus on driving and talk less."

Hamilton recorded his worst-ever qualifying performance at the following GP — last in Las Vegas.

“I feel terrible. Terrible,” Hamilton said.

After the Abu Dhabi GP, where fellow Briton Lando Norris clinched his first F1 title, Hamilton vowed to fight on.

“It’s been a tough season, but the kindness and hard work of everyone at Ferrari means a lot to me,” Hamilton said. “I stand with team and know we have better times ahead."

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain walks back to his pits after he crashed into the track wall during the third practice ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain, left, and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco attend the drivers parade ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain prepares for the drivers parade ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain in action during the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain reacts after the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

ST. MATTHEWS, S.C. (AP) — The former court clerk in South Carolina who helped out with the murder trial of attorney Alex Murdaugh pleaded guilty Monday to criminal charges for showing sealed court exhibits to a photographer and lying about it in court.

Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill pleaded guilty in Colleton County Circuit Court to four charges — obstruction of justice and perjury for showing a reporter photographs that were sealed court exhibits and then lying about it — as well as two counts of misconduct in office for taking bonuses and promoting through her public office a book she wrote on the trial.

Judge Heath Taylor sentenced Hill to three years of probation. The judge told Hill her sentence would have been much harsher if prosecutors had found that she had tampered with the Murdaugh jury.

Hill read a short statement where she asked the judge for a chance to do better.

"There is no excuse for the mistakes I made. I’m ashamed of them and will carry that shame the rest of my life,” she said.

Hill was in charge of taking care of the jury, overseeing exhibits and helping the judge during Murdaugh's six-week trial that ended with murder convictions for killing his wife and son. The case involved power, danger, money and privilege and an attorney whose family had lorded over his small South Carolina county for nearly a century.

Hill has played a prominent part as Murdaugh appeals his convictions and a sentence of life without parole. His lawyers said Hill tried to influence jurors to vote guilty and that she was biased against Murdaugh for her book.

Prosecutors said they investigated jury tampering allegations. But while three jurors or alternates said Hill told stories that changed about how she may have tried to influence them, 11 said she did nothing wrong.

“I would be facing a trial with 11 witnesses coming in to say everything the state is saying is not true,” Solicitor Rick Hubbard said.

During Monday's hearing, Hubbard told the judge that a journalist told investigators that Hill showed graphic crime scene photos to several media members. He did not name the journalist.

The photos were posted online and Hubbard said metadata from the images matched up with a time where Hill's courthouse key card said she was inside the locked room where the photos were kept.

Murdaugh is also serving a separate sentence of decades in prison for admitting to stealing millions of dollars from settlements for clients who suffered horrible injuries or deaths — and from his family’s law firm.

An initial appeal by Murdaugh’s lawyers was denied. But Judge Jean Toal said she wasn’t sure Hill told the truth about her dealings with jurors and was “attracted by the siren call of celebrity” status.

Along with showing the sealed exhibits, an arrest warrant said Hill lied to Toal during a January 2024 hearing when the judge asked: “Did you allow anyone from the press to view the sealed exhibits?”

One of the charges — misconduct in office — involved money that investigators said Hill took for herself. She brought a check to court on Monday to pay back nearly $10,000 meant for bonuses from federal money meant to improve child support collection and about $2,000 in money from the Clerk of Court’s office.

The warrant on the other misconduct charge said Hill used her public role as clerk of court to promote her book on the Murdaugh trial on social media.

The judge said he knows Hill has been more humiliated than most people who come before him because of all the attention from the true crime world on the Murdaugh case.

“ A lot of boats got swept up in the hoopla that was at that trial,” Taylor said. “A lot of folks probably made a lot of money, but you didn’t.”

Hill was also accused last May of 76 counts of ethics violations. Officials said Hill allowed a photo of Murdaugh in a holding cell to be taken to promote her book on the trial and used county money to buy dozens of lunches for her staff, prosecutors and a vendor.

Hill also struck a deal with a documentary maker to use the county courtroom in exchange for promoting her book on the trial, which later she admitted had plagiarized passages, according to the South Carolina Ethics Commission complaint.

Hill resigned in March 2024 during the last year of her four-year term, citing the public scrutiny of Murdaugh’s trial and wanting to spend time with her grandchildren.

This story corrects Hill's sentence to three years of probation.

Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill listens during her guilty plea on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Attorney Will Lewis speaks on behalf of his client former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill as she pleads guilty on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Solicitor Rick Hubbard waits for a court hearing where former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill pleaded guilty on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill reads a statement as she pleads guilty on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill is sworn in during a court hearing on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill smiles after pleading guilty on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

FILE- Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill is sworn in before taking the stand to testify during the Alex Murdaugh jury-tampering hearing at the Richland County Judicial Center, Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. Hill, under investigation amid allegations of tampering with the jury in the Alex Murdaugh trial, announced her resignation on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool, File)

Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill awaits a court hearing on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill awaits a court hearing on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St. Matthews, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)