Lewis Hamilton endured a disastrous 2025 season with no single podium to his title.
Lewis Hamilton has been defended by Michael Schumacher’s former engineer (Picture: Getty)
Michael Schumacher’s former engineer believes Ferrari are largely responsible for Lewis Hamilton’s present plight. The veteran Brit failed to realize a single podium in 2025, along with his dash victory in China the only spotlight of an in any other case disappointing season. He lagged behind Charles Leclerc for a lot of the marketing campaign and ended up ending seventh within the Drivers’ Championship standings.
Hamilton’s dire kind has led to questions over whether or not he’s not as fast as he was, fuelling hypothesis that he might stop F1 within the coming years. Others, nonetheless, have pointed the finger at Ferrari for failing to supply the 40-year-old with a aggressive automotive. Luigi Mazzola, who beforehand labored with Schumacher, believes the latter is probably the most correct evaluation.
He informed NewsF1: “I am definitely not placing all of the blame on Hamilton. No, it isn’t all Hamilton’s fault. I place a big portion of the accountability on the group itself.
“It can’t be the case that after 24 races the group nonetheless doesn’t understand how this character drives a automotive, or a minimum of doesn’t give him a automotive that he’s persistently proud of.”
Mazzola additionally listed quite a lot of different elements which will have contributed to Hamilton’s struggles, together with the language barrier, cultural modifications and the brand new procedures that include transferring groups.
Nevertheless, he added: “What’s all of the fuss about when he is within the automotive? A driver isolates himself and withdraws when he has a automotive he cannot drive. That is what surprises me a bit.
“I am unable to even blame the race engineer. They’re below a variety of stress. I do not understand how a lot freedom the race engineer truly has to determine what to do with the automotive.”
Luigi Mazzola (proper) has blamed Ferrari for Hamilton’s current struggles (Picture: Getty)
Mazzola bolstered his level with a narrative from his time working at Ferrari, saying: “I am telling this from private expertise, as a result of I skilled it myself within the Nineteen Nineties after I labored with [Alain] Prost.
“On the opposite aspect was [Jean] Alesi, and the guru of the state of affairs at the moment was Jean-Claude Migot, purely an aerodynamicist. He dictated sure instructions for a way the automotive ought to be arrange.
“If the driving force could not drive the automotive, I’d wait till Saturday, till he left, after which I’d change every part on Saturday morning.
“And Gerhard [Berger] would come to me and say: ‘I am unable to drive it.’ ‘Sure, I do know you may’t drive it, however what have been we presupposed to do?’.”
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It stays to be seen if Hamilton’s fortunes will enhance in 2026, with the brand new rules providing Ferrari a clear slate in terms of producing a aggressive automotive.
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