1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve warned Lewis Hamilton that he dangers dropping his credibility at Ferrari amid his tough begin to the season.
Hamilton’s begin to the 2025 F1 season hasn’t gone to plan for Ferrari.
Ferrari have scored only one podium within the opening six races and path McLaren by over 150 factors within the F1 constructors’ championship.
Hamilton has usually been out-classed by teammate Charles Leclerc.
The seven-time world champion has proven flashes of brilliance, significantly in dash races.
Hamilton received the China dash and completed third within the Miami dash race after an impressed technique name.
Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia proved to be the low level for Hamilton to date in 2025, main him to confess it’s probably going to be a “painful season”.
Villeneuve believes Hamilton’s brazenly downbeat strategy may end in Ferrari dropping belief in him.
“You possibly can hear that Lewis Hamilton isn’t comfortable in any respect,” Villeneuve informed Vision4Sport. “Charles Leclerc has been stepping up increasingly more. And you may hear it in Lewis’s feedback, ‘I’m sorry’. It’s like Norris, when you begin doing this, you’re burnt.
“You lose your credibility, and folks lose belief in you. They assume he’s solely there for the experience now.
“That’s not the proper picture to point out to a workforce like Ferrari, who’re so fickle. Ferrari are like a volcano. You want these fireworks. You want the eagerness, the spark to set issues off. In case you don’t have the sparks, that’s an issue at Ferrari. There’s not a lot time.
“At Mercedes, he was allowed to take his time. Not Ferrari. You’ll want to be up there and bang. The dash race in China gave the impression to be the spark. However no fireplace got here out after that. There was no dry grass round to catch fireplace!”
Hamilton “at a loss”
Hamilton’s poor run of outcomes isn’t fully right down to him.
Ferrari had been out-paced by Williams throughout the weekend in Miami.
Alex Albon completed fifth, two locations forward of the lead Ferrari of Leclerc in seventh.
Ferrari’s disappointing begin to the 12 months has come as a shock, on condition that they narrowly missed out on the 2024 F1 constructors’ championship.
With Ferrari set to introduce upgrades over the approaching races, Villeneuve is ready till Monaco to guage whether or not Hamilton can recover from his present points.
“The important thing factor for Lewis was to get to Ferrari with a brand new household and a brand new power,” Villeneuve added.
“Not a keep it up of what he had been dwelling at Mercedes, which was counting on him considering, ‘Will probably be straightforward as a result of I’m so good’.
“That’s not the way it works at Ferrari. And it’s actually odd. The important thing level is how it is going to be as soon as all of them get again to Europe. They haven’t had time to take a breather. It’s been a ugly schedule. He appears to be at a loss for why issues aren’t figuring out for him. Let’s wait till Monaco. Then we are going to see what occurs.”
