Seven Time F1 driver’s world champion Lewis Hamilton has been put under the spotlight in recent races for his lack of performance with his new team at Ferrari. Hamilton at the Hungarian Grand Prix claimed that he was “Useless” after qualifying in a lowly P12, compared to his teammate Charles Leclerc who stuck the car on Pole Position. But is Hamilton being too harsh on himself for his struggles at the start of his career with the prancing horse.

Hamilton joined the team at the beginning of this season, and what seemed to be a match made in heaven between F1’s most successful team and driver has turned into a nightmare of mistakes, problems and an overall lack of performance. With Hamilton still not finding the podium on grand prix Sunday for his new team. Which after 14 rounds is the longest wait into a season that Hamilton has had for a podium finish in his entire 18-year career.

Now aged 40 Hamilton’s age is coming into question for his performances out on track, but maybe Hamilton needs to find a way to use his age as an advantage rather than a setback.

It’s not been all doom and gloom however for the 7- time world champion, as he is still the only Ferrari driver to finish a race this season in first place, even if it was a sprint in a very hard to overtake Chinese Sprint Race. And even with all his struggles he only finds one place behind Leclerc in the standings with both drivers holding P5 & P6, he is 41 points behind Leclerc, but this does show the struggles are not just a Hamilton problem but a Ferrari problem.

The main point where Hamilton has struggled against his teammate would be qualifying, with Leclerc being comfortably ahead most weekends. And some may put this down to age, or the fact that Hamilton has lost his speed. But in all honesty Leclerc has proven himself to be one of the best drivers on a Saturday, so for Hamilton to come out on top in a car that he is not fully comfortable with, it would take some serious skill.

Hamilton’s claims of Ferrari needing to “change drivers” because he is “useless” are all hard for the viewer to see, but maybe this is proving that Hamilton is his own worst critic, and this demotivation could potentially be what is standing in the way of the Lewis of old finding his footing with the team from Maranello.

Of course, with his age it must be a factor, as it is for every athlete their comes a point where the young guns takeover, but proven by Fernando Alonso if you have the fire in your belly a return to the front of the grid is not far away. And with regulation changes next year being a complete switch up from what we have got used to since 2022, an experienced head could be the answer to mastering next years F1 World Championship.

As the old cliché goes form is temporary class is permanent, and Hamilton has proven he has the class, now he just needs to reignite the fire in his belly and find the form.