Lewis Hamilton was more despondent than ever before at Ferrari at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He sensationally told the team they should replace him as his struggles continued.
Naturally, Ferrari are not turning a ‘blind eye’ to Hamilton’s remarks, but there is no indication that they will act on it. What it does highlight is how much work the parties need to do to find the right balance.
The seven-time champion is still waiting for his first podium in Ferrari colours. His Sprint win in Shanghai seems like a distant memory, especially after the Hungarian GP, where he suffered arguably his worst weekend to date.
Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 284 2 275 3 187 4 172 5 151 6 109 7 64 8 54 9 37 10 27
He failed to reach Q2 while teammate Charles Leclerc took a shock pole position. Hamilton made little progress in the race as he finished where he started in P12.
Hamilton is suffering the same foolish trait as Sebastian Vettel as he tries to copy Leclerc’s setups. The Monegasque driver has been with Ferrari since 2019, but his teammate is getting worse and worse as the 2025 season wears on.
Photo by Mark Sutton/Getty ImagesFormer McLaren chief Jo Ramirez told Lewis Hamilton he can’t be ‘beating himself up’ after telling Ferrari to drop him
Hamilton’s comments in Budapest stunned everyone; his move to Ferrari was supposed to be the fresh start he needed after a difficult end to his time at Mercedes. Instead, he is desperately struggling to find performance at Maranello.
After the race, former McLaren coordinator Jo Ramirez spoke privately to Hamilton. He told the Ferrari driver that he could not be ‘beating himself up’ like he did.
“I spoke to him briefly in Budapest because he was beating himself up so much, I don’t know if you heard,” said Ramirez via ESPN MX.
“Wow, you could see him, he was sweeping the floor with his beard, right? And I said: ‘Lewis, you can’t say that or you can’t do that. [You] had a bad day. Everyone has a bad day at the office, but you’re going to make up for it’.
“I thought it was a lot. He’s a guy who has nothing to prove. Seven world championships. If you think about it, he has always been with English teams. He was always with McLaren, then he went to Mercedes. Mercedes is German, but it’s in England.
“All the engineers are English, the boss is Austrian. In short, the working system has always been English, and now he’s in an Italian team where he doesn’t feel comfortable. The working system is different.
“Maybe he doesn’t notice it or doesn’t want to notice it, but he’s struggling and we can see that. I don’t know what will happen to him. So, if he doesn’t recover, maybe we won’t have him next year, which would be a shame.”
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family
Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesCan Ferrari improve Lewis Hamilton’s woes as exit rumours emerge?
Stefano Domenicali thinks Hamilton will be ‘very strong’ in the second half of the season. A hard reset over the summer break could be just what he needs.
Likewise, Jackie Stewart sees ‘no reason’ why Hamilton cannot succeed at Ferrari, but it is clear that the team need to find solutions to his problems.
Hamilton detailed three critical points to Ferrari in his private documents to the team, from the team itself to what he thinks about the car. He wants to see changes to the Maranello outfit’s operation, but Piero Ferrari says it is ‘very complicated’ to build the Brit a title-winning car.
The team will need to find answers fast, especially with the 40-year-old’s current mindset. Some English journalists think Hamilton could quit in 2025 and put an end to his F1 career.