AM I wrong to have hopes for Lewis?

When things are going his way, he can be very good...witness the sprint race in China. But he no longer has the same fire in his belly...no matter what he says...and that means he isn't hungry for more victories...as in REAL hungry. He wants to go out on top...and so did Michael Schumacher...but the lust and need to win are no longer driving him forward. When Tyson got knocked out by Buster Douglas, that was the end of "Iron" Mike. Max has replace Hamilton at the top of the heap, now Lewis is just looking for a graceful exit.

 

It's long overdue !!!

 

It’s becoming clear to him (Lewis) that Charles is number one in the team and he was hired to sell clothes.

 

Its going to be tough for Lewis. I've said this before but I think he would quit before accepting he's number 2.

And he's quickly becoming number 2.

I think Lance Stroll is the reason Alonso hasn't quit.

 

He was supposed to be #1 at Ferrari, but he has rapidly earned the #2 spot. Frankly, at this point, he's no better than Sainz was for Ferrari. I hope he gets to build his street car and start his fashion line, because he's rapidly becoming Vettel or Alonso.

 

If you are looking for the Sir Lewis Hamilton of old, you are expecting too much from him, as with any past champion. If you are looking for him to add value to the team in other ways then you may have something to look forward to. Sir Lewis Hamilton has proved to be one of the greatest a long time ago, so just to remind you, many as myself know that he doesn't have win another race to prove anything. It's the young guys time now. I am enjoying the races now and seeing the young guys, Sir Lewis Hamilton's sprint race win was a treat, otherwise I felt he has nothing to prove a long time ago.

 

Hamilton from hero to zero in 1-2 years. That's an insult to Alonso, but not to Vettel.

 

What value has he added to the race team so far, and what value can we look forward to? Ferrari thought he would help win a WCC and he thought Ferrari would help him win a WDC. Granted the season isn’t 25% over but there’s already plenty of disappointment to go around. I think Charles will consolidate his dominance in the European season. Time for a divorce.

Of course, “predicting is hard to do, especially about the future.”

 

It is hard for a new guy with old ways to get the measure of a new to him car but 5 races in compare LH progress at fferrari to sainz progress at Williams not only beating his team mate but assisting albon" with DRS to hold off handjob. LH may be considered the goat but his winning ways are done. It would be sad to watch him become less and less significant every day like vettel. LH should preserve his capital and retire. Say he always wanted to end his career at ferrari and make a graceful exit. Very very few can be George foreman and retake the heavy weight title.

 

I’m not convinced Ferrari is that serious about a championship. Look how much their stock price bumped after signing Lewis. It was multiples of his incredibly generous deal. Merch and past glory carries Ferrari these days. It pains me to say it but no one has yet convinced me otherwise.

 

A lot of people, including myself, believe that Ferrari's decision to sign Lewis was more about money and selling cars than winning races and championships.

 

Here we go again...

 

Some interesting analysis at the auto sport forums.

https://forums.autosport.com/topic/227518-scuderia-ferrari-2025-team-thread/?p=10889714

https://forums.autosport.com/topic/227518-scuderia-ferrari-2025-team-thread/?p=10892077

This poster’s (gilesfan76) conclusion is that the problem Lewis having is caused by:

1. Lewis’ preference for a stable car that he can use aggressive inputs to force rotate in low speed corners and that the current ferrari is the opposite to that i.e., twitchy at high speed, but very nimble at low speed.
2. Lewis’ aggressive inputs that destabilize the ground effects and cause a bunch of work (and time loss) to correct after braking

Not sure if it’s true, but it is thought provoking.

I’m curious if he can adapt to this car. I think if he can identify the root cause and focus on curing it, he will be fine. It’s hard to say if he is willing or able to do that given such limited testing nowadays. Ferrari’s sims may not be high fidelity enough for this kind of driver style fine-tuning (if that is what it is).

I do think that given the investment and commitment from Ferrari they will do everything they can to try to make it work.

 

Ferrari are not serious about winning the WDC and WCC. That's why they hired Hamilton. To sell more merchandise.

if they are serious, get rid of him by the summer break and bring in the Bearman.

 

I agree with this, but was hiring Hamilton a good decision?

I believe it’s more of an emotional decision than a logical one.

good for the short term. bad for the long-term.

 

Interesting column here from Gary Anderson (Former Jordan and Jaguar F1 technical director) basically saying Hamilton can't drive the new-gen ground effect cars https://www.telegraph.co.uk/formula-1/2025/04/21/mercedes-better-off-without-lewis-hamilton-formula-one/ & Mercedes are discovering they are better off without him

 

As the Sprint race proved, SIr Lewis has it in him when the stars are aligned. Scuderia has a legitimate chance at podium for WCC because there is only one team that appears close to consistent ...and they are leading currently. All four top teams have weaknesses (including drivers) discussed ad nauseum in this Forum. Vasseur has to deliver real upgrades to both drivers. CL has had 104 starts in 75 months with The Team (as of this writing), while Lewis has had 5 starts in 3 months with The Team. There's time. In the broadcast I receive, Karun and Bernie were discussing the difference in brakes among the teams. Brembos are used by the entire grid, but each team has different requested specs. Lewis is acknowledged as one of the best brakers, but he has to adjust to a new system and feel. Karun asked an intriguing question as to whether all the binary data output reviewed by engineers could be ignoring brake feel. Bernie said 'absolutely.' If the driver does not feel confident in braking at maximum, they lose time into a turn, they are not a maximum speed in the turn and they are slower out of the turn. 3x lost time. She said all grid drivers want tailoring to them, but WEC drivers do not have that luxury. She pointed out that Jensen has raced in many different car classes and has become one of the most adaptable drivers she knows, especially to braking. Lewis has to adapt to the car quicker than the car will adapt to him. We have witnessed all the (ex-) drivers trying to adapt to Min's car at RB. The list of exes is long. Usually, Brembo does not change non-disposable parts until after summer break. So it may be a while until that part of the car may get closer to LH's style. Other aspects of the car have not overly pleased CL either. As another forum member posted, the top team upgrades have been significant in the past year, whereas SF's best comparable lap time improved 0.1 . So, the engineers have not delivered a winning car so far. This is difficult for either driver-knowing your chances of winning a race are low before you even leave the garage. LH's goal should be to improve close to CL during the season, keep the car on the track and running at the end. So far, I give him credit that he is accomplishing that. This is his and SF's best strategy at a WCC podium. As Viper said about Maverick, "Keep sending him up."

 

He is no longer what he had been.

What should concern us is what he has become.

.... a very expensive Checo Perez.

 

I´ve never liked the idea and of course so far I´ve not been proved wrong, but at China he showed some glimpses of speed. I don´t think he ever will be able to beat Leclerc over a whole season but I hope that with more time at least he´ll bring good points. Something like what there was at Mercedes, where he was beaten by Russell but for not a big margin.

 

He

Hamilton is an instinctive driver. He does what he does out of instinct, so when in the fastest car that responds to his way of driving, he wins titles.

Problem with instinctive drivers is that because they lack understanding and reason, they are unable to help develop the car, they are unable to explain what is required, and they show incompetence at learning to adapt, drive what they have in a different manner.

Brilliant when the stars align but the least capable of drivers because they can’t communicate with the engineers and they are unable to do things differently.

The problem with Hamilton is not that he is finished, give him the car with which he won and he will win again. The problem is that he is instinctive, so brains and reason are out of his porfolio.

 

Agreed

So at the moment, it seems Leclerc knows how to talk to his engineers on the expectations of the car.

Lewis, not so much. He relied too much on the engineers building the car during his multi-wdc winning years.

Max tells RedBull how he wants his car and they build it around Max.....this has always been the case since Max has joined RedBull. The drawback to that notion is not everyone can drive Max's car.

Piastri has fit nice with Mclaren which seems like the Mclaren fits both drivers style so it's not engineered towards 1 driver at the moment....which is a good thing.

 

If Sir Lewis Hamilton broke all those records with a car that was never set up for him (because he is unable to give feedback), the goat argument is done LOL!

 

This is the RedBull way. They put all the chips into one driver. Vettel looked unstoppable.