Perhaps we underestimated the challenge for Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has admitted that he and Lewis Hamilton may have underestimated the challenge that the driver faced at the start of the year.

The seven-time Formula 1 champion joined Ferrari after a 12-year stint with Mercedes. Prior to his time at Mercedes, he drove for McLaren – a Mercedes customer team. Since his arrival at Ferrari, Hamilton has struggled to adapt to the new car and environment. While he has shown glimpses of success with a win in the Chinese sprint race and fourth-place finishes in Emilia Romagna, Austria, and Britain, Hamilton has been outperformed by his new team-mate Charles Leclerc.

“I think perhaps that we underestimate the challenge for Lewis at the beginning of the season,” Vasseur explained to F1.com. “He spent almost 10 years with McLaren and then 10 years with Mercedes – that’s almost 20 years with Mercedes in the same environment.

“It was a huge change for Lewis in terms of culture, in terms of people around him, in terms of software, in terms of car, in terms of every single topic was a big change, perhaps that we underestimate this, Lewis and myself. But I’m very, very pleased because the last four or five races he was back into the pace.”

The British driver was particularly downbeat during the Hungarian Grand Prix, the last race ahead of the F1 summer break. He claimed he was “useless” and that Ferrari might want to consider a new driver.

 “When you have a feeling, you have a feeling. There’s a lot going on in the background that is not great,” he explained when he was asked to clarify his previous comments.

Despite his strong comments, Hamilton explained in the Ferrari debrief that he was looking to reset and recharge during the break.

“It’s been a challenging weekend and one to move on from. We weren’t able to make the progress we hoped for but I’m grateful for the effort everyone in the team put in throughout the weekend. Now we head into the break. I’ll be using the time to reset, recharge and come back stronger. I’m not where I want to be yet, but the fight’s not over – don’t count me out.”