Yesterday at 09:15
Lewis Hamilton has been told he must "get out of" his difficult
start to life at Ferrari himself by Gerhard Berger, who has
implored the British driver to get his car and Charles Leclerc
"under control" at the Italian team. The seven-time F1 drivers'
champion joined the Maranello-based squad amid a wave of excitement
and anticipation, but the partnership has so far failed to live up
to the high initial expectations. At the last round before the
summer shutdown, Hamilton cut a dejected figure, branding himself
"absolutely useless" and suggesting the Prancing Horse needed to
swap him for a different driver to improve results in the SF-25. 14
rounds into the current season, Hamilton has failed to score a
grand prix podium and is at risk of earning the undesired honour of
breaking the record for the most races at Ferrari before securing
one - only Didier Pironi has more, the Frenchman went 19 grands
prix before his first for the Scuderia. Whilst his deficit to
Leclerc is just 42 points at the summer break, Hamilton has been
outperformed by the Monegasque driver 10-4 in qualifying and 11-2
in grands prix (it would have been 12-2 had it not been for their
double disqualification in China). Further still, his team-mate has
visited the rostrum five times this season, with all of those
coming in the past 10 rounds. In Berger's opinion, it is a
difficult situation for Hamilton to acquiesce with, but the 10-time
grand prix winner has implored the 40-year-old to grab the bull by
the horns. The former ATS, Arrows, Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren
driver insists "status shouldn't play a role" between the two
team-mates, and that Hamilton rectifying things rests solely on his
own shoulders. "The whole thing is a bit messed up," Berger told
Austrian publication Krone . "Lewis was always used to being number
one in a team. Now Leclerc has him under control. "But this is more
of a morality tale; status shouldn't play a role. "Lewis is
struggling with it, though, but he has to get out of it himself,
get the car and his teammate under control. It's entirely up to
him."
