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 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.”
Ecclestone added that Hamilton, who is in the first year of a £50m-a-year 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 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 31 August.
“I look forward to coming back, hopefully I will be back, yeah.”
