Lewis Hamilton has already written off his chances of a successful first season with Ferrari. The seven-time Formula 1 champion said he sees only a “painful” few months ahead with his dream move rapidly becoming a nightmare.
After Mercedes fell out of title contention, Hamilton made the decision to join Ferrari at the age of 40 to give himself what he thought would be the best chance of becoming champion again before he retires. But his chances of achieving that this year already look to have vanished.
His sprint race win in China last month aside, Hamilton’s results have been far below the standard expected. He sounded upbeat after driving to fifth in Bahrain – his best Grand Prix finish to date – optimistic that a Ferrari upgrade would solve his problems.
But the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was a chastening experience for the Brit, who qualified seventh and finished there, unable to make any progress. Team-mate Charles Leclerc had more joy and finished third – Ferrari’s first podium of the year.
Hamilton was miserable as he climbed out of his car to comment on his souring Ferrari spell. He said: “Nothing positive to take, except for Charles finishing on the podium, which is great for the team. It was horrible, not enjoyable at all. I was just sliding around. I didn’t have grip.
“First stint, massive understeer, car not turning and then massive [tyre degradation]. The second stint, slightly better balance but still just no pace. Pretty bad. At the moment there’s no fix. So, this is how it’s going to be for the rest of the year. It’s going to be painful.”
Leclerc has been with Ferrari for many years now and is clearly far more comfortable with their machinery. But even though Hamilton admits he has more to give in qualifying, he pointed the finger solely at the car for his lack of race pace.
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He said: “[Leclerc] has been driving this car for a long time, so he definitely knows it really well. There’s plenty in the data, for sure. Honestly, it doesn’t look massively different in the data. I just go slower through the corners.
“We do have slightly different set-ups. I have to look and see whether that set-up is the way the car likes to be. He and his side are definitely obviously doing a better job. In qualifying it’s me extracting performance. In the race, I tried everything, and the car just didn’t want to go quicker.”
His team principal Frederic Vasseur is clearly concerned about the situation, no matter how much he tries to hide it. He was keen to protect his driver as he fact post-race questions about why the most decorated driver in F1 history cannot show any meaningful performance in a red car.
“It was a bit up and down. It was not that he was always off the pace, but let me discuss it with him first,” the Ferrari boss said. “Perhaps it is his confidence with the car, and perhaps with himself also as everything is new. Let’s see next week – the last time we did a sprint it went pretty well.”
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