After the announcement of his arrival at Ferrari, no one expected to see such a disappointing Lewis Hamilton in his debut season with the Scuderia. The British champion instead seems unable to find the right setup in these early races aboard the SF-25, despite the Sprint win in Shanghai that had given the Tifosi some hope.
Aside from that highlight in the Chinese weekend, the former Mercedes driver has not managed to repeat himself, often finishing far behind Charles Leclerc. In the Saudi Arabian GP, for instance, car number 44 finished around thirty seconds behind his teammate, who crossed the line in third. A result clearly unacceptable for a team like Ferrari, which is slowly trying to close the gap to McLaren.
The Maranello team needs the contribution — both in terms of feedback and points — of the seven-time world champion in order to address the weaknesses that have emerged in this early part of the season. Only in this way can the Prancing Horse hope to climb back up the standings and keep dreaming of the world title.
Lewis is increasingly becoming a problem
The disappointing performances are drawing more and more criticism toward Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari. The latest, in chronological order, to “attack” the British driver was Roberto Chinchero after the Jeddah race.
“Hamilton has been a huge disappointment so far. And I say that with great respect for what his career has been. The gap to Leclerc is significant, and from a seven-time world champion I’d expect him to be within a tenth of his teammate after a few races. Half a second is a lot, and when it happened with Sergio Perez, he was slaughtered for it. I don’t expect this from Lewis Hamilton. Charles Leclerc is carrying Ferrari forward, but Lewis is a big disappointment,” said the Italian journalist on Sky Sport following the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend.
