Valtteri Bottas admits that Lewis Hamilton has not adapted to life at Ferrari as quickly as expected for the seven-time world champion.<\/p>\n
However, Bottas \u2013 Hamilton\u2019s former Mercedes teammate of five years \u2013 is backing the Brit to return to form in F1 2026, while he also suggested that some critics of Hamilton<\/a> may not be giving Charles Leclerc the credit which he deserves.<\/p>\n Lewis Hamilton tipped to bounce back in F1 2026<\/p>\n Hamilton was looking to revitalise his legendary Formula 1 career by making the move from Mercedes to Ferrari. However, it is blockbuster switch which is yet to live up to the hype.<\/p>\n With just three rounds to go in F1 2025, Hamilton is facing the growing prospect of completing his first Ferrari season without scoring a podium result. He did win the Sprint in China.<\/p>\n Teammate Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, has finished on the podium seven times, and is 66 points better off than Hamilton in the Drivers\u2019 Championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n With Hamilton having spent his career at McLaren and Mercedes ahead of joining Ferrari, a period of adaptation was widely expected, as he dived into the unique culture of Ferrari, effectively the Italian national team.<\/p>\n However, Bottas admits that Hamilton has taken longer to adapt than expected.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always a big change, especially for him,\u201d Bottas said of Hamilton in an interview with Motorsport.com\u2019s Brazilian arm. \u201cHe spent a long time at Mercedes, so he got used to the way they work. He was very much the \u2018team driver\u2019, so it\u2019s a big change, culturally, in terms of equipment, and language too.<\/p>\n \u201cI think everyone agrees that it\u2019s taking him longer than expected to adapt, but he has shown his speed at times.\u201d<\/p>\n On a positive note for Hamilton, the second half of the season has seen him return to a similar performance level to that of Leclerc, with Bottas suggesting that some of Hamilton\u2019s critics have \u201cunderestimated Charles, how good he is.\u201d<\/p>\n Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc head-to-head in F1 2025<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n