Lewis Hamilton ‘cheating himself’ as Ecclestone reveals driver Ferrari should ‘steal’
Lewis Hamilton has had a disappointing start to his Ferrari career
Lewis Hamilton would be “cheating himself” if he continued in Formula 1, with Bernie Ecclestone adamant he should have retired a while ago.
Hamilton’s shock decision to swap Mercedes for a Ferrari in a bid to claim an eighth World title hasn’t yielded the resurgence that the Briton was after.
Lewis Hamilton should negotiate his Ferrari exit, with full pay
Instead, he’s become increasingly downbeat as the race weekends have gone by without a grand prix podium.
His growing criticism of his own performances culminated in a harsh assessment of his qualifying in Hungary where he was eliminated in Q2, while team-mate Charles Leclerc grabbed pole position.
“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.”
Just 24 hours later, and unable to make up a single position in the race, he appeared to cast doubt on whether he’d be on the grid when F1 returns from its annual summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix.
“I look forward to coming back,” he said, before adding: “Hopefully I will be back, yeah.”
But while the 40-year-old will undoubtedly be in the car at Zandvoort, former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has urged him to call time on his F1 career at the end of the season.
Hamilton reportedly has a three-year Ferrari contract that runs until 2027, but the 94-year-old reckons Ferrari would pay him out as the partnership is not working for either party.
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“Lewis is very talented, was and probably still is,” Ecclestone told the Daily Mail.
“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’.
“If I were Lewis, I would say to Ferrari that I wanted to be paid all my contract, in full.
“They signed him because they thought he could do a job. ‘It isn’t working, so I can make way if you want me to, but that’s the arrangement’. It could work for both parties.”
That begs the question, who could Ferrari sign to replace Hamilton?
The Scuderia has Oliver Bearman on the grid with Haas, but he’s had a mixed season with moments of brilliance interspersed with silly errors, such as crashing in the pit lane under red flags at the British Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz has signed a multi-year deal, with Williams team principal James Vowles denying reports of an exit clause should a top team, such as Ferrari, come knocking.
Ecclestone, though, has two suggestions for drivers who Ferrari should make a play for to replace Hamilton; Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto.
“If I could steal him, I’d take Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls,” he said. “He has done super well in his first year and is a great guy.
“I also rate our friend from Brazil (Bortoleto). He is talented. Both of them are sensible, too.”
Hadjar has arguably been the rookie of the season, scoring 22 points for Racing Bulls, while after a slow start to the season, Bortoleto has three top ten results in the last four races.
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