Lewis Hamilton is without a Formula One podium since joining Ferrari for this season. Photo / Getty Images
Lewis Hamilton has hinted at problems behind the scenes at Ferrari, 24 hours after calling himself “absolutely useless” and suggesting that his team should sack him.
On Sunday, Hamilton watched his teammate Charles Leclerc take pole position as he slumped to 12th. On Monday, he finished the Hungarian Grand Prix exactly where he started and said his mindset had not changed from the day before.
Hamilton joined Ferrari with the hopes of winning a record eighth world drivers’ title. But the Italian team have trailed well behind pace-setters McLaren and Hamilton is being comfortably beaten by his teammate. His comments on Monday suggest that all is not well at Maranello.
“When you have a feeling, you have a feeling. There’s a lot going on in the background that is not great,” he told Sky Sports F1 after finishing the race a lap down from the McLarens.
His struggles at the Hungaroring come off the back of a troubled weekend in Belgium, where he qualified 18th and 16th for the sprint race and grand prix respectively. In Budapest he watched his teammate take pole position while he was eliminated in Q2. Fourteen rounds into his first season at Ferrari he trails Leclerc 109 points to 151. The Monegasque has taken five podiums but Hamilton none.
Hamilton’s demeanour after the race was of a man who looked desperate to embrace time away from Formula One, with nearly a month off until racing resumes at Zandvoort. “I’m glad it’s over. I’m looking forward to going away,” Hamilton said.
When pressed on whether he would “definitely” be back for the next race in the Netherlands, he said: “I look forward to coming back… Hopefully I will be back, yeah.”
The signs of an unhappy driver were there from early on this week. In Friday’s press conference with the written media, Hamilton was word-shy, as he sometimes is. That theme continued throughout the weekend, evidently worsened by the effects of two dreadful races in a row. It is possible Hamilton has hit the lowest point of a staggeringly successful career.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described Hamilton’s comments over the weekend as the driver “wearing his heart on his sleeve”. He said: “He was hard on himself. We have seen it before when he felt he had not met his own expectations. But he is the Goat. That is something he always needs to remember – that he is the greatest of all time.”
Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, said: “I don’t need to motivate him [Hamilton]. He is frustrated but not demotivated, that is a different story. I can perfectly understand the situation.”
In the race, there was also an incident when Max Verstappen overtook Hamilton as his Ferrari went off the track. It was referred to the stewards, but the seven-time champion said he “did not really remember” the battle with his old adversary, who also had a Monday to forget and finished ninth.
Leclerc shared his teammate’s dejection after a chassis problem meant he slipped from leading the race to finish a distant fourth. This problem, he said, made the car “undriveable” in what he called a “disaster” of a second stint.
“I’m still very disappointed. We had one opportunity to win a race this year, which was this race – the first stint was perfect, the first laps of the second stint was really good as well,” he said after the race.
Ferrari have yet to win a grand prix this year, but their performances – or Leclerc’s at least – have been improved since they brought in an upgraded rear suspension at Spa. When it was put to Leclerc that there might be other chances for victory in the remaining 10 rounds, he was pessimistic.
“I am not sure, I don’t think so. I think they [McLaren] are the strongest team out there. What gave me hope of winning was that we were starting first and in the dirty air they were struggling to get past.
“I don’t think we are going into the second half of the season thinking that we can win anywhere and that is what makes the frustration even bigger. We knew that this was one opportunity probably over the season and we had to take it.”
Verstappen, meanwhile, was another driver with reason to embrace the northern hemisphere summer break. He started eighth and finished ninth behind even the Racing Bulls car of Liam Lawson.
“The whole weekend we were just really slow, we just struggled a lot for grip in low speed and medium speed. Whatever we would have done, we would have struggled anyway,” he said. He still sits third in the table but the best he can hope for now is the odd race win.
On the Hamilton incident, Verstappen was surprised it went to the stewards. “The thing is that nothing happened, we didn’t even touch. For me it’s a bit difficult to understand why we had the investigation after the race.”