A tough start
The beginning of Lewis Hamilton’s adventure behind the wheel of Ferrari is proving to be anything but easy for the seven-time world champion, coming off 12 seasons with Mercedes and six world titles won with the Brackley-based team. Aside from the victory in the Sprint race in China and the podium, also in the Sprint, in Miami, the Briton has not yet managed to achieve noteworthy results with the Prancing Horse, even finishing behind his teammate Charles Leclerc.
The latest example came during the most recent Spanish Grand Prix, where #44 yielded to the Monegasque under team orders despite a better qualifying result than #16.
Results have fallen short of expectations, with repeated tensions over team radio with his race engineer Riccardo Adami, and interviews in which Hamilton did not hide his discontent. In short, Hamilton’s first year with Ferrari has started against all expectations.
The pros and cons according to Coulthard
However, analyzing the Spanish Grand Prix alone, there are some elements that can be seen as relatively positive for the Briton, as pointed out by another former McLaren driver, David Coulthard, a 13-time Grand Prix winner. The Scotsman, speaking to Channel 4, acknowledged the real difficulties faced by the new Ferrari driver, but also highlighted some strengths that could help him recover in upcoming events:
“Whether Lewis likes it or not, in the situation he’s in now, the team has to give way to the faster car and sort it out later during the Grand Prix – he explained after Barcelona – in this case, I think Lewis went into the race without the right pace at the start. There was a moment halfway through the Grand Prix when he was actually matching Charles and seemed to be finding some comfort. So, there are some reasons to be positive for Lewis, but at the moment I think he’s a bit stunned by the difficulties of adapting at Ferrari.”
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