On Friday, Lewis Hamilton whizzed through the paddock on a scooter. An observer half-jokingly called out to him to keep up the pace for the race. When the words faded away, the Englishman had long since disappeared into the depths of the long paddock. What remained was the suspicion that Ferrari’s Formula 1 superstar would not be able to get going at the Grand Prix weekend in Qatar either. Meanwhile, bottom places for the record world champion are as predictable as his move to the top in the Mercedes once was, no matter what: 105 victories, seven world titles, no one was more successful. Where has Sir Lewis’ speed gone? A week earlier, when pole position was at stake in Las Vegas, no one drove slower than Hamilton: 20th, 18th, 18th. The combination of these numbers results in a flat zero for him, as his comments are to be interpreted. As if there was nothing there anymore, just helplessness, an emptiness. Hamilton looks sad. He speaks quietly. When a reporter, moved by his emotional state, asks with careful caution whether he had noticed anything positive, Hamilton replies: “The weather is nice.” And when asked again: “The weather is nice.” The stubbornness of the car is noticeable. Hamilton is in the shadows. He doesn’t know that, the champion of the fastest lap, the top specialist for qualifying. “Hammertime,” they shouted at Mercedes when he pulled out for the last, ultimate lap at the limit and raced to the finish line as a shining light with extra power. In the best list he is far ahead of Michael Schumacher (68) at the top: one hundred and four pole positions, 104. With the Ferrari of today, number 105 is not possible. You could see that from a distance in Qatar. The stubbornness of the car is striking, as are the problems the two drivers have in keeping the “holy of holies” at Ferrari’s Maranello headquarters on track. In the spring, Hamilton seemed to have quickly arrived at the Scuderia. With a sprint victory in China in March. A flash in the pan. His duel balance draws the attention away from the engine, chassis, front and rear wings to the middle of the racing car, to the cockpit, where, as is well known, the helmsman is supposed to save what can be saved. Hamilton could do this, move a car faster than the engineers thought possible. Max Verstappen succeeds with the Red Bull. But there is usually someone else in the faster of the two Ferraris.Against teammate Leclerc 5:18 behind Before the last Grand Prix next weekend in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton is hugely behind in the qualification statistics compared to teammate Charles Leclerc: 5:18. There’s nothing more that can be done. Even before the race in Qatar, the disaster could no longer be averted: left behind by the Monegasque over one lap and already in the drivers’ championship. When Hamilton tried to give reasons in the press round on Thursday, after initially giving taciturn answers, he closed the circle. After moving from Mercedes to Ferrari, he asked for patience at the start of the season: new team, new people, new processes. In Qatar he comes back to it again. A day later, his team boss Frédéric Vasseur put off the Ferraristi for the new season. In view of the huge regulatory reform, the development of the car was stopped in April. So there is a completely new car, a new driving behavior, a new technology with a much more powerful electric motor in the hybrid drive, a new driving strategy that could appeal to pilots with the capacity to think at full throttle. There is no mention of the old, and certainly not of aging. A sensitive topic. Because Fernando Alonso, at the age of 44, dominates his teammate Lance Stroll at will in the Aston Martin in the starting position races (23:0). It doesn’t have to be because of age – Hamilton is forty – but Stroll, the son of billionaire Lawrence Stroll, a shareholder in Aston Martin, is not Charles Leclerc. The comparison is flawed. According to his standards, Hamilton measures himself against one of the fastest drivers. Anyone who looks back will discover a precursor to this series of defeats with the potential for destruction, as lost as Hamilton seems these days. More on the topic In 2024 in the Mercedes, George Russell beat the figurehead in his favorite discipline 19:5. But if back then in the Mercedes it was no longer enough for the championship in your own racing team and today in the Ferrari the neighbor in the pits is setting the pace, then it is probably not the fault of the base. When Hamilton’s move from his Mercedes family to the Scuderia was surprisingly fixed and announced shortly before the 2024 season, the German racing team under the leadership of the Austrian shareholder Toto Wolff lost its world star. The racing team had cared for Hamilton, felt his sensitivity and were able to guide him, chief driver or not. This resulted in the most successful career in the history of Formula 1, a breathtaking dominance combined with a brilliant comeback by Mercedes in the premier class. With Hamilton’s departure, his magnetic effect was also lost, for example on powerful sponsors. But looking back, it seems the most expensive employee didn’t leave too soon.
Go to Source