F1 champion claims Lewis Hamilton 'running out of time' at 'fickle' Ferrari

Vasseur, Hamilton, socials — Photo: © IMAGO

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Hamilton 'running out of time' at 'fickle' Ferrari claims F1 champion

Lewis Hamilton has had a disappointing start to his Ferrari career

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 12 May 2025 17:55

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A former Formula 1 world champion has suggested that Lewis Hamilton may not be given the time he needs at Ferrari to make the move a success.

The seven-time champion joined Ferrari earlier this year, ditching the Mercedes team he had been with for 12 seasons in order to try and chase a so-far elusive eighth world championship title with the most successful team in F1 history.

However, Hamilton's Ferrari career has not got off to the best of starts, sitting down in seventh in the drivers' championship without having achieved a podium across six grand prix starts in 2025.

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On top of this, his performances compared to team-mate Charles Leclerc have been concerning, being outqualified by the Monegasque driver on five occasions out of six so far.

Now, 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has suggested that Hamilton may not be given the time and patience Mercedes gave him during his time there.

Hamilton's last three seasons with the Brackley outfit were not the best - mainly down to Mercedes' struggles - but there was not any talk of Hamilton being axed from his contract there, and was actually contracted until the end of 2025 before he opted for an early exit from that deal.

"You can hear that Lewis Hamilton is not happy at all," Villeneuve told Vision4Sport. "Charles Leclerc has been stepping up more and more, and you can hear it in Lewis' comments, ‘I'm sorry’.

"It's like Norris, once you start doing this, you're burnt. You lose your credibility, and people lose trust in you. They think he’s only there for the ride now.

"That's not the right image to show to a team like Ferrari, who are so fickle. Ferrari are like a volcano, you need those fireworks. You need the passion, the spark to set things off. If you don’t have the sparks, that’s a problem at Ferrari, there’s not much time.

"At Mercedes, he was allowed to take his time. Not Ferrari. You need to be up there and bang. The sprint race in China seemed to be the spark, but no fire came out after that."

Hamilton struggling to adapt?

Hamilton's former team-mate George Russell recently said that Hamilton was 'not enjoying' his time with the Ferrari team, but backed him to turn it around and for the partnership to click.

However, stretching back to the start of the 2024 season when Hamilton was partnering Russell at Mercedes, the Brit's qualifying record compared to his team-mates is sat at 24-6 against in the last 30 grands prix, with Hamilton beginning to adopt the negative, downbeat attitude which plagued his 2024 season.

Villeneuve believes that Hamilton needs something to kickstart his career with the Maranello outfit, and where better to do that than in the team's home country of Italy at the upcoming Emilia Romagna Grand Prix?

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Ferrari Mercedes Formula 1 Charles Leclerc Jacques Villeneuve