Martin Brundle believes Lewis Hamilton is in a “difficult place personally” after a difficult start to his Ferrari F1 career.
After winning six world titles and spending 12 years at Mercedes, Hamilton moved to Ferrari ahead of the 2025 campaign, targeting a historic eighth world championship this year.
However, in a car short of pace compared to frontrunners McLaren, Hamilton is yet to finish in the top-three after 14 grands prix. His best result came when he won the sprint race in China in March.
The 40-year-old endured a torrid weekend in Hungary, qualifying and finishing the race in 12th, labelling his own display “useless” and encouraging Ferrari to look for another driver.
“I'm not looking forward to writing this next section,” said ex-F1 driver Brundle at the start of his Sky Sports column. “It's about Lewis Hamilton, who endured what must have been one of the worst weekends of his career, in and out of the car.
“He described himself as ‘useless’ in post-qualifying interviews and suggested the team should change the driver. That was best left unsaid, but he obviously wanted to openly punish himself.
“He's clearly in a difficult place personally, and during the race he would finish in that same 12th position, never really showing signs of progress.
“He sat in the car in parc ferme post-race for what seemed an age and was very downbeat in interviews again.”
Hamilton acknowledged he is “looking forward” to the four-week summer break ahead of the next race in the Netherlands on 31 August – and Brundle believes it has come at the perfect time, before speculating how long Hamilton can cope with this level.
“The summer break couldn't be more timely for Lewis to have a reset,” Brundle added.
“It's painful to observe this great champion in so much strife, and we have to expect that he can weather the storm and return to form given his talent and experience.
“Otherwise I simply can't see him enduring two more seasons at Ferrari, or anywhere else, like this.”
Ex-F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has stated that Hamilton, in his 19th consecutive F1 season, should retire from the sport given his current plight.
