27/04/2025 08:30
Former F1 driver Karun Chandhok has voiced concern over the trend
of Lewis Hamilton's performances at the start of his tenure at
Ferrari. With five rounds in the books, Hamilton sits seventh in
the drivers' standings with a best grand prix result of fifth
coming in Bahrain. His highlight of the campaign to date came in
China when he emerged victorious in the sprint race - however, the
seven-time champion has had little to cheer about outside that
result. Chandhok pointed to a turning point in the head-to-head
fight against team-mate Charles Leclerc and voiced worry over his
declining form in qualifying. "The worry for me is that it [China
sprint performance] is now becoming the outlier," Chandhok told the
Sky F1 podcast . "Since the Sunday of China, where Leclerc got
ahead of him in the race despite having a damaged front wing,
Leclerc was quicker in the race. "The trend is the worry for me. In
Australia, Lewis was [two-tenths] off Charles. In Japan, it became
three-tenths. In Bahrain it became .59. In Saudi, it became over
six-tenths. The trend is going the wrong way. "For a driver who
we're hoping was getting more and more accustomed to life at
Ferrari, that gap should have been closing down, but it's going the
wrong way." Karun Chandhok gives reason for 'deflated' Lewis
Hamilton attitude Hamilton endured a difficult race last time out
in Saudi Arabia as he crossed the line in seventh place, almost 40
seconds down on race winner Oscar Piastri. The 40-year-old admitted
after the race that the "pain" he endured could last the entirety
of the upcoming campaign. Chandhok detailed the depth of Hamilton's
struggles goes beyond addressing a shortcoming in one particular
area. "In Saudi Arabia, he just looks so deflated," he said. "At
least in Bahrain, the race pace wasn't so bad. It wasn't six-tenths
a lap in the race. "He was not that far away. The problem in Saudi
Arabia was, it was 31 seconds across 50 laps, which is the same
six-tenths, basically. So I think that's why he just looked
dejected. "In Australia, we were looking at the data and it was
only those sort of couple of corners, Turn 6, Turn 12, we thought,
'Okay, he's there everywhere else. Braking, he's there. Ultra-high
speed, he's there. It's just those medium-to-high corners, he's
down. It's coming, it's going to happen'. "But now the trend has
gone where he's just losing a bit everywhere. As a driver,
psychologically, you're looking at the data going. 'Where do I
begin?' "If it's just one type of corner, it's easier to focus on.
He's now going, 'I've got to look at the whole spectrum of types of
corners'. That, I think is where it's psychologically why we're
seeing him look so deflated."
