F1 | Former Ferrari engineer explains why Lewis Hamilton may leave Ferrari. Former Ferrari engineer Marcin Budkowski analyses Lewis Hamilton’s struggles.

Former Ferrari engineer: here’s why Hamilton could say goodbye to Maranello

The former Ferrari engineer, Marcin Budkowski, analyzed the situation of Lewis Hamilton at the Maranello team and identified several critical points. The first season of Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari is not going according to expectations. The seven-time world champion is struggling to find the right setup for the SF-25, and results are slow to come. On several occasions Hamilton has come close to the podium, but he has not yet managed to achieve it, except for the Sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix and the Sprint race in Miami. Former Ferrari engineer Marcin Budkowski tried to take stock of the situation.

Budkowski worked at the Maranello team from 2002 to 2007 before moving to McLaren. It was with the Woking-based team that he had the opportunity to work with Lewis Hamilton in his early years in Formula 1.

Hamilton’s difficulties at Ferrari

The road to success, however, is proving more complicated than expected. During the F1 Nation podcast, Marcin Budkowski compared Hamilton to Daniel Ricciardo. The Polish engineer had the chance to work with both drivers and now sees in the British champion a trait he had previously noticed in the former Formula 1 driver. “He reminds me of Ricciardo, with whom I worked at Renault and always had a great relationship. He was very quick at Renault. He has a lot of talent, and it was painful to see him struggle at McLaren and then return to Red Bull. There comes a point where you start overthinking everything.”

Just like Ricciardo, according to Marcin Budkowski, Hamilton is facing the same issue: “He is still adapting to that Ferrari. He cannot yet extract the maximum from the car the way Charles Leclerc regularly does, and he begins to wonder, what can I do differently?” The former Ferrari engineer added: “He is probably overthinking his driving style, and I think that’s the beginning of a bad spiral, but at the same time he has to do it, otherwise he doesn’t really know how to perform the way he wants.”

A negative trend

Marcin Budkowski highlighted during the podcast episode that Lewis Hamilton’s difficulties are not only linked to this season but were already evident in recent years, specifically since the introduction of the new regulations: “Last year he was already struggling at Mercedes. He was slower than George [Russell] in most qualifying sessions; he never really adapted to this new generation of cars. I think he will wait until next year to see the new generation of cars and if they suit his driving style. And I think, honestly, if it stays the way it is now, then probably the most logical thing is for both sides to say, you know, ‘We tried. We gave it a good shot. We enjoyed working together, and it’s best to stop here.’”

The former Ferrari engineer was certain: “I don’t think Lewis [Hamilton] will want to stay forever if he is struggling and not winning races. He wants to win with Ferrari. Either he will believe he can win with Ferrari, or he will probably leave.”