PARIS (AP) — Lewis Hamilton’s dream move to Ferrari resulted in a nightmare first season.
The 40-year-old British driver’s quest to win a record-breaking eighth Formula 1 title with his new team failed dismally, with Hamilton not even getting on the podium in a Grand Prix race.
Matters became so frustrating that at one point Hamilton suggested Ferrari should replace him with another driver.
Australian driver Jack Brabham was 40 when he won the F1 title in 1966, but Hamilton fell well short of matching that feat.
Hamilton won a short-format sprint race in China in March, but in the 24 main F1 races did not finish higher than fourth. He took no pole positions and placed a disappointing sixth in the F1 standings, a sizable 86 points behind his teammate Charles Leclerc in fifth.
Overall, the former Mercedes star has won only two F1 races over the past four seasons.
His frustration has at times been expressed in curt team radio exchanges during this campaign with Ferrari race engineer Ricciardo Adami. Hamilton sarcastically told him to “have a tea break” during the Miami GP in May.
Confidence rocked
“ I’m useless, absolutely useless,” Hamilton told British broadcaster Sky Sports after a disappointing qualifying session at the Hungarian GP in early August. “The team have no problem. You’ve seen (Leclerc’s) on pole. So they probably need to change driver.”
A few weeks later he sounded more upbeat.
“I just really want to focus on getting back to that enjoyment,” Hamilton said. “I joined the team that I’ve always dreamed of driving for.”
But the season nose-dived further for Hamilton. He made uncommon errors for a driver who owns FI records of 105 wins and 104 pole positions.
He was eliminated from Q1, the first section of qualifying, for the last three races of the season and did not qualify in the top 10 for four consecutive races.
He also crashed in the third practice at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last weekend due to a driver error, losing control of the car’s rear and sliding into the barriers.
“I don’t have the words to describe the feeling that I have inside,” Hamilton said on Saturday after the crash. “An unbearable amount of anger and rage.”
Qualifying woes
Qualifying problems persisted for Hamilton.
In July, he qualified 16th at the Belgian GP after his best lap time was scrapped for going off track. The day before, he was 18th in qualifying for the sprint race following a spin.
Earlier that same week, however, Hamilton had spoken with determination and authority. He described holding “ crunch time ” talks with Ferrari’s leaders to demand improvements.
“I’ve sat with John (Elkann, Ferrari’s president), Benedetto (Vigna, CEO) and Fred (Frédéric Vasseur, team principal) in several meetings,” Hamilton said at Spa-Francorchamps.
Hamilton even complied a “full document for the team” during the mid-season break, detailing “structural adjustments that we need to make” and “issues that I have with this car.”
All of this input made little difference on the track.
Hamilton finished seventh in Spa, placed 12th in Hungary and did not finish the following race in the Netherlands.
There was another DNF in Brazil last month, followed by finishes of eighth, 12th and eighth to end the season on a low.
Hamilton called the weekend in São Paulo a “nightmare” while Leclerc was “not happy” with his “very slow” car.
Leclerc did not win a race this season either. But the driver from Monaco beat Hamilton 7-0 in podiums and comfortably in the standings.
Last in Vegas
Following the Braziilian GP a concerned Elkann told both his drivers to “focus on driving and talk less.”
Hamilton recorded his worst-ever qualifying performance at the following GP — last in Las Vegas.
“I feel terrible. Terrible,” Hamilton said.
After the Abu Dhabi GP, where fellow Briton Lando Norris clinched his first F1 title, Hamilton vowed to fight on.
“It’s been a tough season, but the kindness and hard work of everyone at Ferrari means a lot to me,” Hamilton said. “I stand with team and know we have better times ahead.”
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