Expert Christian Danner talks about Lewis Hamilton’s problems at Ferrari and draws a comparison with Alain Prost, Fernando Alonso, and Sebastian Vettel
Lewis Hamilton has finished his first Formula 1 season for Ferrari without a single podium finish. Although the Brit won the sprint in China in only his second Grand Prix for the Scuderia, he never made it into the top 3 in a main race.
“Lewis had his own immortal status at Mercedes,” explains expert Christian Danner to sport.de, adding: “When he went to Ferrari, he thought that now his greatness, which he undoubtedly has, would come to the fore.”
But Danner believes that the seven-time world champion underestimated the move to Scuderia, explaining: “You can’t establish the processes of an English team in Maranello. It doesn’t work.”
The expert emphasizes: “Alain Prost didn’t manage it, Fernando Alonso didn’t, Sebastian Vettel didn’t, and now Hamilton hasn’t either.” All of the world champions mentioned failed in their attempts to win a title with Ferrari. Hamilton himself had only driven for the England-based teams McLaren and Mercedes since the start of his Formula 1 career in 2007. “He never really got used to the car or the team throughout the whole year,” believes Danner.
Danner criticizes Hamilton’s interviews
The former Formula 1 driver also criticizes Hamilton for “relatively openly expressing his suffering” in various interviews throughout the year. “That’s not very good in these moments, because you have to stay positive,” says the expert.
Hamilton, for example, once described himself as “useless” in the summer, and in further conversations with the press, the record world champion repeatedly hinted at how dissatisfied he was with his performance this year.
In terms of performance, Hamilton was “nowhere near Leclerc’s level,” adds Danner. After all, his teammate Charles Leclerc made it onto the podium seven times and finished the season with 242:156 World Championship points, well ahead of Hamilton.
His former teammate Nico Rosberg recently expressed the assumption that Hamilton would prefer to retire from Formula 1. However, the record world champion himself has made it clear that he intends to fulfill his contract with Ferrari.
