“This is the worst season of my life”. With these words Lewis Hamilton sent the first part of the year to the archive just before taking off his helmet and overalls staff and enjoying the three-week break due to the summer break.
The SF-25 does not fit its style and what's more, as we have told you several times during the year, it is a very problematic single-seater. The new rear suspension introduced in Belgium seems at least to be able to give a better feeling in terms of driveability to Leclerc, while from the side of the Hamilton's garage, progress is still to be evaluated.
There are no magic wands in Formula 1. Ferrari, by introducing the new suspension, has started a program that will continue in the next races. The summer break will be useful to study the data collected over the last two weekends and hope to be in a better condition in Zandvoort (next 29 – 31 August) when activity resumes.
A self-criticism that escaped Hamilton's control
The fact, however, is that Hamilton found himself suffering more than Charles in the last few races and the large performance difference that emerged between the two completely annihilated the seven-time world champion. This disarmed him. Lewis started making mistakes in the field in which he had always excelled since he was Formula 1: communication.
He made the most serious mistake in Hungary when at the end of qualifying he said: “Ferrari should change driver”. His words came out naturally, probably disarmed by the fact that he was eliminated for the second time in a row before Q3 (in Belgium he did not go beyond Q1 and in Budapest he stopped in Q2), while his teammate was even celebrating pole position.
An anomalous situation, difficult to digest, even for a seven world champion. On this occasion, taking note of the statements that followed, Hamilton absolutely did not want to mention the fact that Ferrari would have been better off changing driver. Those were the consequences of a self-criticism that escaped his own control. Lewis feels useless, as if his contribution is superfluous. As if he couldn't give significant help to allow the Ferrari to return to fighting in the top positions.
The SF-25 managed to send him into a tailspin, to annihilate him, starting to make him make serious mistakes also from a communicative side. A terrain that he often also used against his opponents (Rosberg knows something about it) to take the world championship clash off the track.
The summer break comes at an appropriate time. The right timing to catch your breath, breathe and clear your head.
Photo: Ferrari
Read in the original language (Italian): La SF-25 annichilisce Hamilton, disastro comunicativo a Budapest
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