Ralf Schumacher finds disgraceful and shameful how Hamilton is mistreating Ferrari. https://www.newsweek.com/sports/racing/former-f1-driver-slams-lewis-hamiltons-behavior-toward-ferrari-2113638
The drama that is Lewis has become a total bore. He should shut up and and either drive better or retire.
Vasseur speaks about the issues facing LH and the team overall in terms of adapting etc. --Ferrari has admitted that it completely underestimated the challenge that Lewis Hamilton would face when he joined its Formula 1 team after so long at Mercedes. Speaking to The Race about the challenges being faced, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has conceded that both he and Hamilton did not appreciate how difficult a move of teams would be.-- https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/stupidity-spoiled-start-lewis-hamilton-ferrari-f1-switch/
Translation: his past success was more the car than his abilities. Always excuses for him. Other drivers have no problem quickly adapting to different cars yet Lewis can’t simply due to not changing teams? One could argue that a seven time world champion should be able to get in anything from a kart to a touring car and be competitive from the get go. Max can do it why can’t Lewis? Speaking of, wouldn’t it be great to see what Max would do in Lewis’s car? I’d wager he easily turn faster times than both Charles and Lewis with little to no adaption time. Ferrari needs to stop coddling Lewis and move on.
Its always the car. Max is pedestrian currently. You dont win WDC in a bad car thats mid pack mostly. Ask George. No one knows how Max will do in a completely new team. We will know when and if he ever moves. I expect he wont. His call overall of course. Plenty of drivers adapt or do not. Max is capable and we see how that declines with time. Id really like to see Max move to another team and that would be very interesting to watch.
True but Max has unquestionably squeezed more out of that midfield car than Lewis has. Even Charles has consistently outperformed him in the same crap car. Sooner or later they are going to have to accept the reality that Lewis is at the end of his career and simply doesn't have it anymore. He can undoubtedly still hang in there like Alonso if he wanted to but he won't be a threat to the front runners No shame in getting old and retiring..
But this is about Sir, not Max. Their situations are very different, not really comparable. Translating FV from corporate English to plain English, “Sir has been a huge disappointment. We never should have signed him but my ponce of a boss wanted the name in the team, results be damned. Yes the car is not right, but look at the performance delta between Charles and 44. It isn’t even close.”
Pedestrian? Max is driving a car that his teammate has an average finish of 14.7 over the last 7 races. In the same timeframe, Max has a podium, a pole and a sprint win. The car has definitely gotten worse relative to others this year, but as a clunker Max has still got 2 GP wins this year. The best finish a teammate has had is 9th. I wouldn't say this is the best Max we've ever seen but just because he isn't on the podium every weekend doesn't mean he looks pedestrian.
Exaxtly !!! Senna could do it to. Offered a test on a private Porsche 962, he did times that would have put him among the Porsche factory drivers. Invited in a touring car race, he won on a Mercedes saloon he had just discovered.
Lewis Hamilton is only 5 races away from matching the unwanted record for longest wait without a Grand Prix podium for Ferrari with the possibility of breaking it. It was 1981 in the Ferrari 126CK and Pironi's first time with Ferrari. Image Unavailable, Please Login
It has already been noted before. There are two types of drivers in F1: the craftsmen and the instinctive ones. The craftsman driver understands how the car works, is able to set it up so that it suits his driving, and can learn how to drive different types of cars. He is a driver who understands his trade, who can communicate with engineers and mechanics in order to find the best performance from the car, and also his own performance within it, adapting both himself and his driving to the car to achieve the best possible result. Drivers of this kind are usually consistent and deliver steady performance, albeit still more variable than the car itself. Then there is the instinctive driver. They are fewer. He has a natural driving style; if the car suits it, he shines, but he is unable to understand why. He cannot adapt his style because he has no understanding of what it is. He cannot communicate with engineers and mechanics because he does not understand how the car works. He cannot set up the car and relies on the engineers to give him a car he can handle, without being able to explain to them what that is. He is a driver who does not adapt because he doesn’t know what he’s doing, and therefore has no understanding of what he should be doing. With the right machine, he is brilliant. Without it, he looks lost and brays, blaming the car, the team, and anyone passing by in the pit lane.
Craftmen: Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Mario Andretti, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost ? Instinctive drivers: Gilles Villeneuve, Ronnie Peterson, Jochen Rindt ?
I would not buy anything Ferrari signed by Sir. Now, Lance, maybe offer him a drive in the Ferrari? Cannot do worse than Sir
As others have said, Max is still squeezing a huge amount from the car that he has. We've already seen Max move teams before, a mid season move at that. We all know what happened. We've seen George swap teams mid season and we've seen what happened. Lewis has had MORE than enough time to adjust and the gap between him and Leclerc has only gotten bigger. Lewis may well be an extremely quick driver in a car that suits him but he's also average at best at something that isn't optimized for him. Which ironically makes him exactly like his new alcohol free tequila...it promises to taste like tequila but it's just overpriced vanilla flavoured water.
Current numbers for the year so far: https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1079596/1/revealed-true-value-lewis-hamilton-brings-ferrari-despite-poor-track-form Lewis Hamilton is bringing an extra €70 million in revenue for Ferrari this year despite his lack of on-track success in Formula 1, according to a report in the Italian press. Hamilton’s blockbuster switch to Ferrari has proven to be a marketing and commercial coup, with the seven-time world champion delivering a level of global appeal few in F1 can match. F1 season, revenue from this segment jumped from €313 million to €396 million, fuelled by new partnerships and increased prize money from FOM. It should also be noted that Ferrari’s ‘sporting’ revenue has steadily grown in the last few years, going up from €499 million in 2022 to €572 in 2023 and €670 in 2024 last year. This is primarily down to a substantial increase in F1’s revenue under Liberty Media, which means a bigger pot for teams to share. Ferrari also enjoys preferential commercial terms with FOM thanks to its status as F1’s longest-standing team. Hamilton’s arrival has also boosted income for Ferrari. The 40-year-old currently boasts over 40 million followers on Instagram, more than double that of his teammate Charles Leclerc and even higher than that of Scuderia Ferrari’s (19mn) and Ferrari’s main handle (31.8mn). Hamilton is also the richest F1 driver on the grid, earning an estimated $20mn from off-track endorsements alone. By contrast, Max Verstappen’s off-track deals are worth only $6mn a year. How Lewis Hamilton is helping Ferrari make more money Italian publication Gazzetta has estimated Ferrari’s return on investment (ROI) for hiring Hamilton with the help of StageUp. Ferrari agreed a deal for HP to become its title sponsor for an estimated €80mn-90mn a year. The big-money HP contract, as well as other deals, have not been impacted by Hamilton’s disappointing results on track. Further, taking other things into consideration, Hamilton is estimated to be worth €70 million in terms of increased revenue. Considering his salary of €40 million, according to Gazzetta, Ferrari is making a handsome return on its investment this year, even though the results on track leave much to be desired.
