38 year old former F1 rival could be Lewis Hamilton's answer to his deficit to Charles Leclerc, feels Ferrari insider

Former Ferrari mechanic Francesco Cigarini feels Lewis Hamilton could turn to his former F1 rival Sebastian Vettel in a bid to answer a few queries about how he reduces his deficit to Charles Leclerc. The 7x F1 champion had shocked the world when he announced that he was moving to the Italian team in 2025.

When he made the move, he was expected to slowly but steadily take over the leadership role within the team and exert his command and authority within the squad. As a 7x champion and a bona fide hall of famer already, Lewis Hamilton knew from day 1 on what he needed to achieve and how he wanted to conduct himself.

While this was certainly the case, it was something that Lewis Hamilton would have been chasing from the get-go as he started his journey at Ferrari.

Unfortunately for him, Lewis Hamilton took a long time to adapt to the car, and even now, the driver continues to get frustrated at not being close enough to the Monegasque driver. There's been a clear gulf in performance between the two drivers, and according to former Scuderia mechanic Francesco Cigarini, the driver would be reaching out to Sebastian Vettel to get a hang of these cars.

In 2020, when it was official that Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari had severed ties for the future, that season's car was a handful for drivers like the German.

The car had a strong front but an unstable rear, somewhat similar to the current Ferrari. Talking to Sky Sports, Cigarini felt that Lewis Hamilton could talk to the German and maybe gain a better understanding of how to get around the issues. He said,

"Leclerc prefers a very sharply tuned car, with the rear end being very free and requiring a lot of feeling. When Vettel tried to copy that set-up, he ended up looking like a novice. I think that’s exactly what’s happening with Hamilton now. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hamilton calls Vettel to try to wriggle out of this.”

Lewis Hamilton lashes out in front of the media

Lewis Hamilton's frustrations with underperforming in the Ferrari reached their tipping point in the Hungarian GP when the driver was eliminated in Q2, but his teammate Charles Leclerc would go on to secure pole position. In a moment in front of the media, where the driver was still quite emotional, he said that maybe the team needed to change the driver. He said,

"It’s just me every time. I’m useless, absolutely useless. Team has no problem, you’ve seen the car’s on pole. They probably need to change driver.”

The driver is currently more than 40 points behind teammate Charles Leclerc in the championship. In the second half of the season, he would be hoping to build some sort of momentum and have a better understanding of the car under him.