Lewis Hamilton F1 News: Champion's 'psychological' problem named by Sky Sports pundit

lewis hamilton, mercedes, chinese grand prix, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

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Hamilton 'psychological' problem named by F1 pundit

The seven-time world champion has been in poor form this season

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 15 June 2024 17:57

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A Formula 1 pundit has pointed to Lewis Hamilton’s ‘psychological perspective’ as a potential explanation for his poor form in 2024.

The seven-time world champion announced earlier this year that he would be joining Ferrari for the 2025 season and beyond, but so far in 2024, has struggled to achieve strong results for the Silver Arrows.

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Hamilton has been out-qualified by his team-mate George Russell eight to one this season, and described the last grand prix in Canada as one of his ‘worst races'.

Furthermore, the seven-time world champion has failed to win a race with Mercedes since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2021, and is currently on his longest-ever podium drought in F1.

George Russell has beat Lewis Hamilton 8-1 in qualifying this season

Lewis Hamilton has failed to win a race with Mercedes since 2021

What is the reason for Hamilton’s Mercedes difficulties?

One of the reasons for Hamilton’s difficulties has been attributed to his experiments during grand prix weekends.

In order to extract pace from his Mercedes, Hamilton has adjusted the set-up of his W15, often to no avail or benefit to their performance.

However, speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, pundit Naomi Schiff has outlined another reason why she believes Hamilton has struggled in recent years.

"I think if we could take this back to what happened in Abu Dhabi in 2021, coming back in 2022 with a car that was not able to get revenge, for lack of better words, was probably really frustrating for Lewis,” Schiff said.

Naomi Schiff has discussed Lewis Hamilton's form

“And I can imagine how, from a psychological perspective, that may have bogged him down a little bit. It was a lot to come back from. To not be able to really have your say immediately must have been tough.”

Schiff continued: "I think 2023, I felt that it was turning around. You could see that he was a little bit happier, a little bit more confident and a little bit more himself again.

“But for whatever reason, coming into the season, that seems to have gone away, and now, it's 8-1 that he's been out-qualified by George, so that is not going to be very comfortable for Lewis."

Hamilton currently sits eighth in the drivers' standings with 42 points. Team-mate George Russell is one place ahead in seventh on 54.