Lewis Hamilton heads into the summer break with another poor weekend under his belt at Ferrari as a former F1 team manager takes aim at the seven-time world champion.
The Ferrari driver’s weekend started off poorly as he qualified outside the top 10 for the third time in a row, lining up in 12th place, while teammate Charles Leclerc took pole.
The race did not improve matters for Hamilton as he finished in the same place he qualified on Sunday, leaving him 42 points behind his Ferrari teammate.
After appearing visibly dejected in the post-race media pen — where he suggested Ferrari should consider changing their Saturday driver — former Williams team manager Pete Windsor has now stated that Hamilton must take drastic action to salvage his season
Lewis Hamilton has had a poor first half of the season with Ferrari
|Getty
“For a guy who is a seven-time world champion and to be on the retainer that he’s on, to be saying this and feeling this, even if he was saying it sarcastically, he shouldn’t be saying that. He shouldn’t be answering the question for a start, and beyond that, he needs to be thinking about why he’s not driving the way he should,” said the 73-year-old.
“It’s all to do with the money, the brand, and the thing that started at Ferrari dressing up in the black kit and the F40 instead of just being ultra-focused on being a racing driver at Ferrari. Just enjoying the privilege and be nothing but a hyper-focused racing driver. That’s what he needs to do over the August break.
“It’s very difficult for Lewis to do, to strip himself of the brand that he’s become and just become a pure racing driver. It needs to be something as radical as that.”
The previous two races have been some of the worst of Hamilton’s career as he still struggles to get to grips with his SF-25, after spinning in sprint qualifying and getting a lap time deleted during qualifying for the race.
The Briton also crashed out in both Q1 sessions in a display that Hamilton called “unacceptable.”
READ MORE: Tom Brady accused of having 'no class' after NFL icon made brutal comments about Wayne Rooney
Pete Windsor has revealed what he believes Lewis Hamilton needs to do in the second part of the season
|Getty
Following Belgium, Hamilton was likely aiming for a stronger performance in Hungary — a circuit where he has historically excelled — but that hope failed to materialise.
The 40-year-old’s challenging season continued in Hungary, where he failed to score points for the first time since his rookie year.
LATEST SPORTS NEWS:
While the points gap may be big between Hamilton and his Monegasque teammate, the time on track between the two has not been so extreme.
Hamilton is on average around 0.146s behind his teammate in qualifying, a gap that he has closed from 0.227s from the early stages of the year.
Prior to racing in Belgium, Hamilton had outqualified Leclerc in three of the previous four grand prix, as Ferrari aims to make their car easier to drive for both their drivers.
Lewis Hamilton claimed Ferrari should change their driver after his difficult qualifying on Saturday
|Getty
Leclerc had been on for a surprise victory around the Hungaroring, as he outpaced the dominant McLarens for over half of the race, but an unexpected issue with his Ferrari chassis caused him to fall back, finishing off the podium, over 40 seconds behind the McLaren he was leading against.
Hamilton will be hoping he can use the summer break to work with his Ferrari team to get his car into a window where the Briton is able to showcase the skills that have made him the statistically greatest driver to have ever raced in F1.