Lewis Hamilton’s early struggles at Ferrari spark concern, with Derek Warwick suggesting the seven-time champion may already be
Lewis Hamilton’s lack of adaptation to his new team, Ferrari, has been one of the surprising storylines of the season’s early stages. Derek Warwick is questioning the difficulties faced by the seven-time world champion at Scuderia and fears that the disappointment of what is so far an underwhelming move to Maranello could prompt him to hang up his helmet and gloves sooner than expected.
“I don’t know why Lewis Hamilton can’t be competitive in a Ferrari. I think it’s really a mystery,” said the former driver to Plejmo. “I think we all saw his move to Ferrari as a great opportunity to win that eighth world title. Right now, the car just doesn’t suit him.”
“Most critics will say he’s been a seven-time world champion, he’s won 105 Grands Prix, and he needs to adapt to the car he has, as Charles has done. But for one reason or another, he just can’t get used to it. I think people underestimate, including Lewis himself, how difficult it is to join a new team.”
“You need to get used to their systems, their debriefs, make them understand what you want and vice versa. And probably the most important part of the car is the steering wheel, because there are so many different settings you can change on it—maybe he hasn’t fully grasped it yet.”
“Do I want Lewis to win races and fight for the world championship? Yes. I think he deserves it. I think he deserves that eighth world title. It won’t happen this year, and I think if he continues the way things are going right now, I suspect he’s already thinking about retirement.”
Warwick doesn’t see Hamilton struggling to the extent of Red Bull’s second driver, in a team where he questions the disparity between the two cars: “I don’t see him running half a second off Charles, and also in sixth, seventh or eighth place. He’s had enough of that over the last three years with Mercedes. So he needs to regain some confidence.”
“I thought in China, when he won the Sprint race, that it might be a turning point, but the car still doesn’t suit him. The car still doesn’t suit him. We can debate why it doesn’t, but I think the Red Bull is by far the most difficult car on the grid to drive, and only Max can handle it.”
“It’s so front-end-heavy, it oversteers everywhere, which obviously Max loves, but anyone else who gets in that car simply can’t drive it the same way. So the whole team is being pushed to cater to what Max wants, which makes it impossible for others.”
“But if I were the team boss, I wouldn’t change the direction they’re going. I don’t quite understand why they can’t tweak the car a bit differently for Yuki, just to help him be a bit quicker.”
“I think all drivers like to feel comfortable in a car. Some of us prefer understeer, others oversteer. But Grand Prix drivers are the best in the world. They should be able to adapt to any poor handling of a car.”
Despite the rumours of Max Verstappen’s potential exit, the Brit is betting on a status quo next year: “Obviously he’s talking to all the teams, but when you say all the teams, it’s really just McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and maybe Aston Martin.”
“Aston would be a big gamble, but they have Adrian Newey. Mercedes will always be there or thereabouts, even if they’ve had a rough patch the past three years. If I were Mercedes, would I want to drop George or Kimi?”
“I think the answer to that is no, but the problem is that when you have the fastest driver in Formula 1 knocking on your door, I think he can open most doors. I think the big cheque would come from Aston Martin if that’s what he’s after. But in the end, I think he’ll stay at Red Bull.”