07/08/2025

SPORTS THURSDAY | AUG 7, 2025

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Ferrari’s F1 driver Lewis Hamilton in action. – REUTERSPIC

Hamilton’s F1 demise The telling numbers behind Brit’s difficult 18 months and it’s not all about Ferrari T HE doom and gloom was writ large on Lewis Hamilton’s face in the Budapest media pen last weekend. After a dozen or so races to forget in Ferrari red, the Hamilton was quicker than Russell in just five out of 24 grand prix qualifying sessions last year. In terms of trends, Hamilton only managed to go quicker at one street circuit – Singapore – and his biggest advantage of 0.881 seconds in Hungary came about as a result of Russell not fuelling his car up enough in changeable conditions. First point to be made: Leclerc is viewed as one of the quickest drivers over one lap in the sport. His pole position record speaks to that. While the Monegasque has claimed eight race victories, that figure is dwarfed by his 27 pole positions. However, after shootout on four occasions, with just one to Leclerc’s name. Even for Hamilton, who loves a charge through the field, it’s not possible to do it every week. Ű BY KIERAN JACKSON

The future It’s plain as day that Hamilton’s qualifying lap times need to improve if he is to stand any chance of reviving his old self. It’s simply not feasible to expect prosperous, consistent results at the top of the leaderboard when you’re start ing in the middle of the pack. Charging through several cars to make up positions? Once in a while, perhaps. But not on the regular. The good news is that Hamilton is not naive. He knows this is nothing new. It was after quali fying on Saturday that Hamilton described him self as “useless.” Further back, in Qatar last year post-qualify ing, he simply said: “I’m just slow.” The despon dency has been long-lasting. Reasons for optimism? As witnessed in Silverstone last year, when presented with a strong starting position, his prowess in grands prix is unwavering. In addition, an average deficit of two-tenths, while sizable, is not humungous. And, slowly but surely, Hamilton can work away at closing the gap. It’s also clear, given his Mercedes troubles last year, that this is not just a Ferrari issue. Of course, the team need to find a sweet spot for Hamilton in this capricious car. But the patterns are unignorable, regardless of the team. So, while the outlook may look decidedly dreary, with question marks over whether Hamilton still has “it”, the challenge the 40-year old faces in qualifying s not insurmountable. And if he’s going to stand any chance of a title tilt next year – with dreams of No. 8, surpassing Schumacher – he has to make Saturdays his pri mary focus for vast improvement. – The Independent make way if you want me to’… but that’s the arrangement.” Hamilton labelled himself “useless” and even stated Ferrari should look for a driver to replace him after his performance in qualifying in Budapest. While teammate Charles Leclerc secured pole position, Hamilton failed to make Q3. A day later, he hinted at “background” issues at Ferrari, before saying he was “very much” looking forward to the four-week summer break before the next round in the Netherlands on Aug 31. “I look forward to coming back, hopefully I will be back, yeah.” – The Independent

40-year-old needs a reset. Hamilton is yet to secure a podium in 14 rounds for his new outfit, with aspirations of competing for an eighth world championship dead in the water this year. As for 2026? Regardless of car performance, at this point, who knows? But while we have seen glimpses of the seven-time world champion’s stardust on race day in the last 18 months – not least his sumptu ous victory at Silverstone a year ago – his per formances on a Saturday, by his own admis sion, have been below-par. Qualifying performances are, to a large degree, how you are judged when it comes to raw pace in Formula One. In the same machin ery as your teammate, the quicker driver comes to the fore throughout the course of the season. It is in this department that Hamilton should be most concerned. Now, ahead of the four-week summer break, The Independent breaks down the 40-year-old’s qualifying record, why it shows the issues did not just start at Ferrari and whether his down ward spiral can be reversed. 2024 season – Mercedes After George Russell finished above Hamilton in the world championship in their first year together in 2022, the elder statesman of the Silver Arrows finished third to Russell’s distant eighth to reaffirm his spot as No 1 in 2023. But the start of the 2024 season, by which point we knew of Hamilton’s impending depar ture, represented the beginning of a trend in which the seven-time world champion has faced consistent uphill battles. BERNIE ECCLESTONE has urged Lewis Hamilton to retire from Formula One amid his torrid start to life at Ferrari. Seven-time world champion Hamilton, 40, has failed to secure a podium in his first 14 races for the Scuderia and was despondent last weekend, after qualifying and finishing 12th in Hungary. Hamilton moved to Ferrari after six titles and 12 years at Mercedes amid much fanfare but, aside from a sprint race win in China, has struggled in a Ferrari car yet to pick up a victory this season, his 19th in the sport. Ecclestone, who was in charge of F1 for 40 years before relinquishing control to Liberty

Hamilton’s initially prosperous weekend in China (when he won the sprint, before both cars were disquali fied after race losing streak. Interestingly, before, Hamilton beat his teammate in Barcelona – a cir cuit he knows like the back of his hand, given the years of races and testing held in Catalunya. Leclerc’s big gest advantage of 0.645 seconds came at Spa Francorchamps a fortnight ago, when Hamilton’s final lap was wiped for exceeding track limits. Hamilton has like the year the race), he went on a six

On the flip side, Russell’s biggest advantage of two seconds was in the unpredictable wind and rain of Brazil, which wet-weather master Hamilton bafflingly failed to adapt to. Overall, Hamilton’s average deficit over the course of the sea son was 0.209 seconds in quali fying to his teammate. All in all, it makes for pretty grim reading. Many assumed Hamilton’s sights were already set on a fresh chal lenge at Ferrari, and

that played a part, particu larly in the lat ter months. However, this season, not much has changed. 2025 season – Ferrari Over the 14 races so far this sea son, Charles Leclerc leads the Ferrari head-to-head quali fying stakes 10-4.

been knocked out before the t o p - 1 0

Lewis Hamilton. – REUTERSPIC

Ecclestone urges seven-time world champion to retire from F1

Ecclestone added that Hamilton, who is in the first year of a £50m-a-year (RM281m) deal lasting two seasons, should look to get his contract paid out in full. “The guy is not a cheat, but he would be cheating himself if he goes on,” Ecclestone added. “He should stop now. If I were looking after him I would negotiate with Ferrari immediately and say, ‘if you have someone to replace Lewis, he’ll step aside.’ “If I were Lewis, I would say to Ferrari that I wanted to be paid all my contract, in full. “They signed him because they thought he could do a job. ‘It isn’t working so I can I can

Media in 2017, believes Hamilton would be “cheating himself” if he decided to continue and should have retired “a while ago.” “Lewis is very talented, was and probably still is,” Ecclestone, 94, told the Daily Mail . “But like a lot of leading sports personalities when they reach the top, there is only one way to go and it’s not a good direction. It’s only down. “They get tired. Lewis is tired. He’s been doing what he is doing forever. He needs a rest from it for good, a total reset to do something completely different. He may not think it, but he will soon get used to doing other stuff away from motor racing. “I think he should have done it a while ago.”