Lewis Hamilton 'respect' demanded at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton heads to Baku this weekend for his 17th F1 race weekend in red, but his struggles at Ferrari so far this season have seen him fail to step on a grand prix podium.

Aside from his victory in the Chinese GP sprint race back in March, Hamilton has fallen behind team-mate Charles Leclerc this season in terms of qualifying results, podiums and points.

The 40-year-old's misery at the Scuderia was compounded at the Hungarian GP back in August when he once again found himself unable to make it to Q3 on Saturday, even advocating for his own sacking following the disappointing result.

But after refreshing his mindset over the summer break, Hamilton stated that he was looking forward to enjoying his job again, with F1 boss Fred Vasseur hopeful that a podium will come soon.

Despite his struggles since switching to the Scuderia, Hamilton is still regarded as one of the greats among his former team-mates, friends and even rivals in the sport.

Alonso: Lewis doesn't need to prove anything

Speaking after F1's return from the summer break, even Hamilton's former rival Fernando Alonso agreed that the seven-time champion hadn't been met with the respect he deserved since leaving Mercedes.

The two-time champion spoke to Sky F1 in Zandvoort, assessing Hamilton's struggles at the team he also once called home.

"I think from the outside you never know for sure what is going on," the Aston Martin star declared.

"Lewis doesn't need to prove anything, he's an incredible driver and he will figure out sooner or later to be at the top pace.

"He and the team, Ferrari, will always be a combo that you need to respect a lot."

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