A fresh start for the most successful driver in Formula One history has turned sour in remarkably little time.
Lewis Hamilton’s surprise move from Mercedes, the team with whom he won six of his seven World Championship titles, to Ferrari in 2025 was supposed to usher in a turnaround in form for both the 40-year-old Briton and the famed yet beleaguered grand old team of F1.
But an unusually long adjustment period, in a car that has proved to be uncompetitive this season, seems to have taken a toll on Hamilton, whose excitement has turned decisively downbeat as the season goes into its summer break period till August 31.
During the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday, after qualifying 14th for the same race in which his teammate, Charles Leclerc, took pole position, Hamilton was harshly critical of himself, saying he was “absolutely useless” and that his team may consider looking for a new driver. On Sunday, after finishing the race in 12th, he remained gloomy.
When asked about his comments on Saturday, he was quoted as saying by The Guardian: “When you have a feeling, you have a feeling… There is a lot going on in the background that is not great.”
“I have got nothing else to say,” he would add when asked why he was especially unengaged this weekend.
His dour mood has triggered speculation about his future across the paddock, with comments about him widely spread in the British and Italian press.
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Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur played down the negativity. “I don’t need to motivate him, honestly, he’s frustrated, but not demotivated,” he said. “I can perfectly understand the situation. He’s demanding. But that’s why he’s a seven-time world champion.”
His former team principal, Toto Wolff of Mercedes, defended him too. “We have seen it before when he felt he had not met his own expectations. He’s been that emotionally transparent since he was a young adult. Lewis has unfinished business in Formula One. You ask me if he still has it? He definitely has it,” he said.
Criticism flew his and Ferrari’s way in the Italian press, though. Arturo Merzario, former F1 driver from 1972 to 1979, told La Gazetta: “First and foremost, in my opinion, Hamilton’s arrival in Maranello was a commercial move. Ninety percent of Ferrari insiders disagreed, at least from what I understand. And then, when a driver doesn’t feel valued or an integral part of the team’s pursuit of a goal, he loses motivation.”
With 109 points from 14 races so far, Hamilton stands sixth in the driver’s standings, 42 points behind teammate Leclerc in fifth. His contract with Ferrari lasts till the end of next year, when the technical regulations will change, resetting the pecking order on the grid. Until a solid judgement can be made of his and Ferrari’s performance in those changed regulations, speculations are likely to continue to spread.
