Anthony Davidson has addressed the “elephant in the room” of Lewis Hamilton’s age when discussing the British F1 driver’s difficult start to life at Ferrari.
Hamilton, 40, is in his 19th season in Formula One but has endured his worst-ever start to a season, failing to finish on the podium in the first 14 races of the campaign.
A win in the Chinese GP sprint race at the second round of the season in March, was a false dawn, with Hamilton’s best grand prix finish being fourth place. While teammate Charles Leclerc has registered five podiums, Hamilton is yet to finish in the top-three.
Hamilton labelled his performance over the weekend in Hungary, when he qualified and finished 12th, as “useless” and even stated that Ferrari need a new driver. Ex-F1 driver and Sky Sports pundit Davidson, who worked with Hamilton as a simulator driver at Mercedes, spoke about the seven-time world champion’s age as a factor.
“This is just another hurdle that he’s having to overcome and I don’t mind saying it because it’s the elephant in the room, and I’ve been there myself as a driver, age is a factor as well,” Davidson said on Friday, prior to Hamilton’s struggles in Budapest.
“I feel like this time of reflection for him, as an athlete ages, it does [affect performance].
“Whatever anyone says, even himself, others that are very involved with Lewis, fans, they won’t understand where I’m coming from, but I’ve lived and breathed it as an athlete. I’m now retired at 46.
“You start asking yourself questions. It’s only natural.”
Davidson raced in F1 from 2002-2008 at various points but competed in endurance cars for the last decade, before retiring in 2021.
Hamilton has only won twice since missing out on an eighth world title after the controversial finish to the 2021 season in Abu Dhabi, with his sights already set on new regulations next year with Ferrari.
“We all know what Ferrari is like, at least from the outside,” Davidson added. “We have a few friends, ex-colleagues that are on the inside and they confirm the beliefs from in the paddock that it’s a pressure cooker.
“There’s a high expectation on the Italian national team to perform and the request of the standards are incredibly high…
“He knew what he was walking into, but it’s never easy. As a driver, you know the challenges of changing teams. Even changing car to car, like we’ll see next year with the rules changing and like we saw in 2022.
“For me, Lewis has never been the same driver since we saw the 2022 regulations come along and he’s had to work harder than ever before to rework his style that he’s done many times before in Formula 1.
“The cars have changed a long way since the normally aspirated V8 and the grooved tyres that he once drove, for example, and he’s had to reinvent himself along the way.”
F1 now enters the customary four-week summer break before the Dutch Grand Prix on 29-31 August.
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