Johnny Herbert reckons prolonged Charles Leclerc dominance could push Lewis Hamilton towards retirement

Johnny Herbert feels that if Charles Leclerc continues to dominate Lewis Hamilton, then it could push the 7x F1 champion towards retirement. The talk about the driver's future has first come from his side alone, as in an interview during the Hungarian GP, he said that Ferrari should replace him.

Lewis Hamilton shocked the F1 world last season when he announced that he was leaving Mercedes and going to Ferrari for 2025. The call meant an alliance between the most successful driver in F1 and the team.

There were quite a few expectations attached to this partnership. They did not come to fruition the way many would have thought.

On one side, Ferrari has not produced a title-contending car. On the other side, Lewis Hamilton has struggled as a driver. Teammate Charles Leclerc has had a lid on his teammate and his performances, and that's something that has raised questions about the level of performance of the 7x champion.

Lewis Hamilton's comments in the F1 Hungarian GP also caught quite a few people off guard, and by the end of the weekend, speculation was rife about the driver's future in the sport. Talking about the same, Johnny Herbert feels the problem is the presence of a top driver in Charles Leclerc in the other car. Talking about the same to Grosvenor Casino, he said

"A year ago, when he won at Silverstone, he said very frankly that he'd come to doubt whether he could celebrate another victory, and this means that Hamilton has been aware and at the same time doubtful for quite some time that he might no longer be as competitive as he'd like. Furthermore, in this scenario, there's the comparison with his teammate, and Leclerc is offering the best version of himself; he's consistent and doesn't make mistakes. In all of this, we shouldn't forget Hamilton's age."

He added,

" It's not that there's a particular year in which he loses competitiveness; it varies from driver to driver, but it's natural to lose freshness and flexibility when adapting your driving style to a particular car or generation of cars. the ground-effect ones that debuted in 2022. So it's normal that at some point Hamilton might even consider retiring, a very difficult decision to make, especially because you wonder if the right time has actually come. If things don't work out and don't improve, perhaps he'll come to the conclusion that it's time to move on and try other things in his life."

Herbert on Lewis Hamilton's outburst

The thing that stood out the most and surprised a lot of the people was the fact that Lewis Hamilton was quite blunt in criticizing himself and was quick to claim that Ferrari needed to replace him. Herbert felt that this was just Hamilton wearing his heart on his sleeve, and this was just another example of that. He said,

"Hamilton's outburst? Lewis is very sincere when he speaks and doesn't spare any criticism of himself."

He added,

He's frustrated because he can't perform as well as he would like, or at least as well as when he was at the top of the category, but he's still having fun, and that's very important mentally because it means he's still motivated.

The first few races after Lewis Hamilton returns from the summer break are going to be crucial. If the driver continues to have a barren run, we might not be looking at a long run for the driver.