Lewis Hamilton urged to make instant Ferrari exit

Former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has handed Lewis Hamilton a frightful verdict about whether or not he should continue racing in the sport beyond the end of this season.

Hamilton came across incredibly downbeat during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, calling himself 'useless' after qualifying 12th, and suggesting that Ferrari should consider sacking him.

The seven-time world champion joined Ferrari back in January, but has struggled to make any kind of impact on the Maranello outfit, currently sat down in sixth in the drivers' championship.

While he did claim a sprint race victory earlier in the year, Hamilton's best grand prix result in 2025 is fourth, despite Charles Leclerc managing to seal five podiums and a pole position across the first 14 races of the season.

Both Ralf Schumacher and fellow British F1 champion Damon Hill have questioned in recent days whether Hamilton should decide to call time on his career one year before his contract is set to expire, with his poor performances and negativity in interviews pointing towards somebody who may be coming to the end of their career.

Now Ecclestone - who controlled the commercial rights to F1 from 1987-2017 - has also suggested that the 40-year-old should think about walking away from the sport at the end of 2025.

"Lewis is very talented, was and probably still is," Ecclestone told Mail Sport. "But like a lot of leading sports personalities when they reach the top, there is only one way to go, and it’s not a good direction. It’s only down.

"They get tired. Lewis is tired. He’s been doing what he is doing forever. He needs a rest from it for good, a total reset to do something completely different.

"He may not think it but he will soon get used to doing other stuff away from motor racing in retirement. I think he should have done it a while ago. The guy is not a cheat. But he would be cheating himself if he goes on, he should stop now.

"If I were looking after him I would negotiate with Ferrari immediately and say, ‘if you have someone to replace Lewis, he’ll step aside.'"

Ecclestone later continued in a chilling verdict: "I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to Lewis. He’s not fighting for a world championship and is at a stage of his life when it wouldn't be worth him spending two years laid up in bed with a broken back or anything else nasty. He doesn’t need to take the risk any longer."

Hamilton's torrid 2025 campaign

While the lack of a grand prix podium will surely be a concern for Ferrari and Hamilton, his qualifying performances will be the biggest worry as he is leaving himself too much to do in races.

Hamilton has been outqualified by Leclerc 10 times in the first 14 races, and this has equated to a 42-point lead for the Monegasque driver over his seven-time champion team-mate.

During the Hungarian GP weekend, another Hamilton quote really stood out after the race, when he said: "When you have a feeling you have a feeling, and there’s a lot going on in the background that’s not great."

This left many to believe that talks were going on behind-the-scenes about Hamilton's performances, and whether he will be able to recover the form that has seen him win a record 105 grands prix.

A glimmer of hope for Hamilton as we head into the summer break, however, will be that wholesale regulation changes are coming in 2026, which may mean that he is driving a type of car that is more suited to his strengths as a driver, after winning just two races since the last meaningful regulation change in 2022.

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