Lewis Hamilton made one big Ferrari mistake and now he is paying - 'Why didn't he get it sorted'

Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari fury all stems from one big mistake by the seven-time F1 champion, according to a leading insider.

The 41-year-old British superstar was again highly critical of his team after Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, which ended with more misery at Monza for Maranello.

Hamilton could only finish sixth, having lost positions early after a skirmish with team-mate Charles Leclerc which saw him drop down from fourth to 10th.

Afterwards Hamilton bemoaned the lack of 'rules' at the Scuderia, indirectly putting the pressure squarely on under-fire team principal Fred Vasseur.

Hamilton's Monza moans came on the back of an equally acrimonious Dutch Grand Prix, where he believed Ferrari's flawed strategy cost him a podium.

Lewis now believes it is 'too late' for the team to change things with this year's title race in mind - he now trails Mercedes' brilliant young Italian Kimi Antonelli by 76 points.

While Hamilton is clearly unhappy as he surveys the ashes of another wasted weekend for Ferrari, former F1 team boss turned analyst Peter Windsor claims this is all very predictable.

F1 HEADLINES: Ferrari confirm Monza inquest as Lewis Hamilton puts his boss on the hotseat

Ferrari 'not brave enough to tell Charles or Lewis'

Speaking to Cameron cc on YouTube, he claimed: "I don't think anybody at Ferrari is brave enough to tell either Charles or Lewis what to do - that's the problem.

"Both of them are so big in terms of their footprint and being global stars that they're [Ferrari] daunted by the whole thing. That's why I always said from day one, you either have Lewis and Carlos Sainz or you have Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

"What you don't do is put Charles Leclerc with Lewis Hamilton because it's always going to be a mess. I always said that. Any more than you put Max Verstappen with Charles Leclerc in the same team.

"And Ferrari did this 'because we want the best driver here and more money there and the share price here, Lewis and the F40'. And look at it.

"How do you think Lewis feels on a Monday morning like that, after an Italian Grand Prix like that, which began with the whole F40 thing and the cloak and the Kangol cap?"

Hamilton 'should have sorted it like Michael did'

Windsor believes what is happening at Ferrari could have been avoided had Hamilton not made one big error before he even signed on the dotted line at Maranello.

"Obviously he will blame Ferrari and he'll blame the strategy and the lack of discipline, but he would have known about all of that before he joined the team. So why didn't he get it sorted as Michael got it sorted?

"Absolutely, Charles edged out Lewis, didn't give him enough room and that was not a good thing at all. But Charles has always been like that - that's my point.

"It's not as if he's suddenly become aggressive and a hard guy to overtake. He is the hardest guy to overtake and the most aggressive guy to overtake in Formula 1. Has been for 10 years, so there's nothing new there.

"That's why I keep saying, if you're gonna join a Ferrari team in which Charles Leclerc is the other driver, you've gotta be very sure that there's a complete reboot of how the discipline is handled on the track.

"And obviously that wasn't there, and it still isn't there, and it won't be there."

Hamilton and Ferrari get a very swift opportunity to recover from that disastrous weekend at their home race as F1 moves on to the new Madring circuit for this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix (Sunday, 3pm local, 2pm UK, 9am Eastern).

The tight street circuit should suit the Scuderia much better than the long straights of Monza, but again race strategy - so often the team's Achilles heel - will play a massive part in the outcome.

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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