Ex-McLaren figure held talks with Lewis Hamilton as Ferrari woes worsen
Lewis Hamilton has struggled since his blockbuster move from Mercedes to Ferrari
Former McLaren stalwart Jo Ramirez said he went to speak with Lewis Hamilton at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
That was in response to Hamilton’s brutal self-criticism, Ramirez telling Hamilton that he had “a bad day at the office” like anyone can. But, if Hamilton does not turn his Ferrari career around, Ramirez sees a possibility that the seven-time World Champion will not be on the F1 2026 grid.
Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari: Can he turn it around?
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Hamilton’s Ferrari journey arguably hit a new low at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where the F1 icon qualified and finished twelfth.
Team-mate Charles Leclerc put the sister Ferrari on pole for the first time this season, which triggered Hamilton to call himself “useless” as he dropped out in Q2.
“It’s just me every time,” he told Sky F1.
“I’m useless, absolutely useless.
“Team has no problem, you’ve seen the car’s on pole. They probably need to change driver.”
After the race, he told the media, including PlanetF1.com that “I have nothing else to say,” when reunited with his suggestion that Ferrari should replace him.
Asked if he would definitely race for Ferrari at the Dutch Grand Prix, the first event after the summer break, Hamilton added: “I look forward to coming back… Hopefully I will be back, yeah.”
Hamilton was paid a visit at the Hungaroring by Jo Ramirez, who served as coordinator at his former team McLaren from 1984-2001.
He would share with ESPN MX what he said to Hamilton.
“I spoke to him briefly in Budapest because he was beating himself up so much,” said Ramirez on Hamilton.
“And I said: ‘Lewis, you can’t say that or you can’t do that. [You] had a bad day. Everyone has a bad day at the office, but you’re going to make up for it.’”
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc head-to-head in F1 2025
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
Hamilton walked into a completely new, and unique culture at Ferrari. In addition, this move marks the first time he has competed in Formula 1 with a non-Mercedes engine.
“He’s a guy who has nothing to prove,” Ramirez continued. “Seven World Championships.
“If you think about it, he has always been with English teams. He was always with McLaren, then he went to Mercedes. Mercedes is German, but it’s in England.
“All the engineers are English, the boss is Austrian. In short, the working system has always been English, and now he’s in an Italian team where he doesn’t feel comfortable. The working system is different.
“Maybe he doesn’t notice it or doesn’t want to notice it, but he’s struggling and we can see that.”
Hamilton signed a multi-year deal with Ferrari, widely reported to run until at least the end of F1 2026. But, his struggles this season, following on from a challenging final campaign with Mercedes, keep the rumour mill of retirement at the end of 2025 bubbling away.
“I don’t know what will happen to him,” Ramirez admitted. “So, if he doesn’t recover, maybe we won’t have him next year, which would be a shame.”
Hamilton sits sixth in the Drivers’ Championship standings, a position and 42 points behind Leclerc.
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