Lewis Hamilton is currently only behind with his Mercedes team in Formula 1. According to a Dutch racing driver, the fact that the seven-time world champion has such problems is mainly due to the Brits themselves. They only look for excuses and deal with too much nonsense.
The current Formula 1 season has not gone to Lewis Hamilton’s taste at all. While his new team-mate George Russell has achieved top-five results in all races so far, Hamilton has only finished in the top five twice. The 37-year-old’s problems with the new W13 cannot be dismissed out of hand.
Dutch racing driver Tim Coronel believes that the fact that the seven-time champion is not competing for the title for the first time in years has left its mark.
“It doesn’t fit at all between Mercedes and Hamilton,” Coronel told the Dutch edition of “Motorsport.com”. When the chemistry in the team is right, communication among each other is different, explained the 50-year-old, who is active in a wide variety of racing series.
From Hamilton’s radio contact with the pits, he understood that the British racing team with a German license was not right at the moment. “You can tell that Hamilton is always looking for excuses,” said Colonel.
Coronel: Russell engagement is reminiscent of Michael Schumacher
The whole thing doesn’t get any easier for Hamilton because his teammate Russell is currently outstripping him. “Then you suddenly have the wrong momentum and what Hamilton does happens: he looks for excuses,” repeated Coronel.
The racing driver cites the Miami Grand Prix as an example. Here Hamilton had reacted a bit harshly when the question about the strategy came from the pits. While Hamilton responded that it was up to the command post, Russell actively chose to stay out. In the end, this brought him the place in front of the veteran.
“Russell uses these opportunities because he feels good. He works with us,” explained Coronel and saw parallels to one of the greats of the sport: “We knew this view of the race from Michael Schumacher, who really thought about it together with the team, [was das Beste ist].”
Hamilton, on the other hand, would now shift the responsibility to the team alone due to his bad phase. “But as a driver you have to think for yourself,” Coronel warned and etched in the direction of the seven-time world champion, who also got stuck in a debate about wearing jewelry on the sidelines of the Miami GP: “Hamilton is currently far too much with his piercings, his jewels and other things nonsense than with real racing.
According to the 50-year-old, the fact that Russell gets along so well in the W13 is also due to the fact that he is used to bad cars from his time at Williams. “He always had to be ready to adapt to the car and squeeze the most out of the car. And he’s doing that now.” Unlike Hamilton, apparently.