Lewis Hamilton will lose his credibility at Ferrari warns F1 veteran unless he improves

Former F1 world champion, Jacques Villeneuve, has warned that Lewis Hamilton will lose his credibility if he continues to not perform at Ferrari. The harsh criticism comes in the aftermath of what has been a disappointing start to life at the Italian team for the 7x world champion.

Hamilton surprised a lot of people last season when he announced that he was leaving Mercedes and embarking on a new journey with Ferrari. At the time, the alliance of the most successful driver in F1 with the most iconic team was looked at as a win-win situation. That is, unfortunately not how it has played out.

Ferrari, on its part, is struggling this season after almost clinching the title last season. Lewis Hamilton, on his part, however, has been unable to keep up with Charles Leclerc. After 6 races, the main points continue to be the 7x champion's sprint win and podium in China and Miami, respectively.

Lewis Hamilton has only once outqualified Charles Leclerc in Grand Prix qualifying and is yet to finish ahead of him in races. Miami was a better race weekend for the driver, but even there the gap between the two was obvious. Former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve feels that the driver needs to be careful because we're heading towards a scenario where he could lose credibility with Ferrari. He told Vision4Sport,

“You can hear that Lewis Hamilton is not happy at all. Charles Leclerc has been stepping up more and more. And you can hear it in Lewis’s comments, ‘I’m sorry’. It’s like Norris, once you start doing this, you’re burnt. You lose your credibility, and people lose trust in you. They think he’s only there for the ride now."

He added,

“That’s not the right image to show to a team like Ferrari, who are so fickle. Ferrari are like a volcano. You need those fireworks. You need the passion, the spark to set things off. If you don’t have the sparks, that’s a problem at Ferrari. There’s not much time. At Mercedes, he was allowed to take his time. Not Ferrari. You need to be up there and bang. The sprint race in China seemed to be the spark. But no fire came out after that. There was no dry grass around to catch fire!”

Monaco deadline set for Lewis Hamilton

Villeneuve felt that it was going to be crucial for Lewis Hamilton to find his form and get closer to Charles Leclerc. The Canadian did feel that we need to give until Monaco to the Brit to see if he finds his feet under the table at Ferrari. Beyond that, pressure would start ramping up on the driver as he tries to come to terms with the demands within the team. He said,

“The key thing for Lewis was to get to Ferrari with a new family and a new energy. Not a carry on of what he had been living at Mercedes, which was relying on him thinking, ‘It will be easy because I’m so good’."

He added,

“That’s not how it works at Ferrari. And it’s really odd. The key point is how it will be once they all get back to Europe. They haven’t had time to take a breather. It’s been a gruesome schedule. He seems to be at a loss for why things aren’t working out for him. Let’s wait until Monaco. Then we will see what happens.”

Lewis Hamilton is currently 12 points behind Charles Leclerc in the championship, and the driver would be hoping to reduce the gap between the two in the upcoming races.