Rival F1 team boss points to Lewis Hamilton's age as a factor behind his struggles at Ferrari

Rival F1 team boss Mattia Binotto has pointed to Lewis Hamilton's age as a factor behind his struggles at Ferrari. The 7x champion joined the Italian team this season amidst a lot of fanfare. The spotlight was on because the most successful driver was being teamed up with the most successful team on the grid.

To add to this, Ferrari had a brilliant end to the 2024 F1 season. The team scored the most points in the second half of the year and took McLaren into the last race before the championship was decided. Heading into 2025, the Italian team was expected to have a car that was capable of fighting for the championship.

Unfortunately, the Italian team's call to redesign 95% of the car backfired as it ended up losing its competitive advantage. The team has not won a single race or secured pole position in the first 9 races. At the same time, Lewis Hamilton himself has found it hard to keep up with Charles Leclerc.

The season has been one-way traffic at Ferrari, as Leclerc not only leads head-to-head in qualifying and in races but also holds a significant advantage in points as well. Lewis Hamilton has yet to completely outperform his teammate even once over an entire weekend, leading to the driver admitting to struggles with the car.

One of the critics of Ferrari's call to sign Lewis Hamilton was Mattia Binotto, and talking to the Italian publication, the Audi F1 team boss stated that the British driver is now at the end of his career. He said,

“Hamilton is a certain age. Ferrari took him when he was at the end of his career. The ideal would have been to be able to have it a few years earlier.”

Binotto on Lewis Hamilton's team's struggles

Mattia Binotto gave his take on Ferrari's struggles as well, and he admitted that, looking from the outside, the team would not be happy with the results. He did, however, feel that during the season, the key personnel who were a part of the squad when he led the Italian unit were capable enough of improving the car and hence achieving some level of success this season. He said,

“As an outsider, perhaps we shouldn’t even judge. It is clear that the performance on the track and the results are not happy at the moment. But I know every single member of that team very well and I know that they are good, strong and capable. They will be able to improve the car and do well in the future. And I think Ferrari can take some satisfaction for this year.”

Lewis Hamilton is slowly reaching a point where his position at the Italian team could start to get questioned. He was signed as a star attraction at Ferrari, but if he doesn't perform with almost half of the season in the rearview mirror, it would raise concerns over his standing within the team.