Lewis Hamilton became \u201ccomplacent\u201d during his \u201ceasy\u201d championship-winning years at Mercedes, with his move to Ferrari for F1 2025 bringing a \u201cbig shock\u201d to the system.<\/p>\n
That is the claim of Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 World Champion, who reckons the seven-time World Champion \u201cneeds a helping hand to get his mojo back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did Lewis Hamilton become \u2018complacent\u2019 during Mercedes years?<\/p>\n
Despite enjoying early success in the sprint format \u2014 winning the mini race in China and finishing third in Miami \u2014 Hamilton has largely struggled since his blockbuster move from Mercedes to Ferrari.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old has failed to register a podium finish across his first 12 appearances with his new team, marking his worst-ever start to a season.<\/p>\n
Hamilton has seemingly struggled to adapt to life at Ferrari with his first half of the season defined by a series of uncomfortable exchanges over team radio<\/a> with new race engineer Riccardo Adami.<\/p>\n Lewis Hamilton vs Charles Leclerc: Ferrari head-to-head scores for F1 2025<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n Ferrari\u2019s season has failed to live up to expectations so far, with the team battling a major issue with the SF-25 car\u2019s ride height<\/a> since the start of F1 2025.<\/p>\n It is hoped that a new rear-suspension upgrade<\/a>, which will appear for the first time at this weekend\u2019s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, will go some way to rectifying the problem and allow Ferrari to compete for victories in the second half of F1 2025.<\/p>\n Appearing on the Red Flags podcast, Villeneuve claimed that Hamilton \u201cforgot how hard he had to fight\u201d during his years of success with Mercedes, resulting in the seven-time World Champion being exposed at Ferrari this season.<\/p>\n Asked to choose between Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, the two-time World Champion and current Aston Martin driver, Villeneuve said: \u201cI will [say] Alonso because Hamilton has too many downs.<\/p>\n \u201cEven though he\u2019s got all the championships, it\u2019s not the quantity of championships.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at every season, there\u2019s always been two, three, four races where he was completely disappearing.<\/p>\n \u201cThen suddenly he woke up and started winning again.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd too many of those championships came in a car that even [Valtteri] Bottas would have won the championship if Hamilton had not been there.<\/p>\n \u201cThat put him in a place where he became complacent and he forgot how hard he had to fight.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you can see it now.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a big shock to him that, actually, no, he has to fight as hard as he did in his first and second season.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first championship he had [in 2008]? Amazing. He really fought hard for that.<\/p>\n \u201cBut after that, when the car became superior, he had too many easy years.<\/p>\n \u201cHe always had seasons where he got a few races where he just disappeared, wasn\u2019t there anymore, and suddenly the light turned on and he was a killer again.<\/p>\n \u201cAlonso is always there.\u201d<\/p>\n Villeneuve went on to claim that a \u201cglimpse\u201d of the old Hamilton appeared in China, where he converted sprint pole into victory 24 hours before being disqualified from the main race for excessive skid-block wear as a result of Ferrari\u2019s ride-height issues.<\/p>\n The Canadian has been left alarmed by Hamilton\u2019s emotional response when things turn against him in F1 2025, insisting drivers \u201cneed to be really strong\u201d to handle life at Ferrari.<\/p>\n Asked if Hamilton still has the spark required to succeed at the highest level, he said: \u201cWe had a glimpse of it in China.<\/p>\n \u201cHe got it on pole when the car shouldn\u2019t have been on pole in the sprint race and then carried that to a win.<\/p>\n \u201cIn general, you can see that when things go a little bit wrong, a little bit tough, he goes down.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has a real hard time to keep his head above the water. That\u2019s not a good sign, [especially] in a team like Ferrari.<\/p>\n \u201cFerrari is a tough team and you need to be really strong to survive it.<\/p>\n \u201cHe needs a helping hand to get his mojo back.\u201d<\/p>\n More on Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Lewis Hamilton news<\/a><\/p>\n