Former Red Bull man on 'not fast enough' Lewis Hamilton's worst ever start to a season in his career

Former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos feels Lewis Hamilton, who has had his worst start to an F1 season, is just not fast enough. The Brit shocked the world last year when he announced that he was moving to Ferrari. The move was expected to be a marriage of the most successful driver in history with the most iconic team.

The start to life at Ferrari has been anything but iconic, as the results are just not there. The team's decision to revamp 99% of the car it had last season seems to have backfired. What is an even bigger shock is that the team had arguably the best car on the grid in the second half of the year. The team took the title battle into the last race with McLaren.

The choice to make wholesale changes has been disastrous. Lewis Hamilton, on his part, has not had the best run either. The British driver has found it hard to keep up with Charles Leclerc, and it has been one-way traffic on that front.

Talking about the team's struggles currently and comparing it to the peak Ferrari years, when Michael Schumacher was a part of the team, Robert Doornbos felt that there was no comparison here, as Lewis is not fast enough either. He told Ziggo Sport Race Café,

“It’s difficult to put your finger on it, but if you look at the past, where all those successes come from, then it was almost an English organisation that operated from Italy.”

He added,

“Now you have a Frenchman in charge, who in Italy operates with a Monegasque driver and an Englishman with a lot of baggage, who doesn’t get the credit he deserves. On the other hand, he is not fast enough either, you could say.”

Lewis Hamilton is currently going through a lean patch, as this is his worst start to an F1 season. Talking about his struggles, Robert Doornbos said,

“I see a Lewis Hamilton, who hasn’t taken a podium in ten races in Formula 1. That has never happened in his career.”

He would then joke,

“I know how it feels, I had eleven races and didn’t take a podium either. I feel for that boy. I secretly hoped that there was a glimmer of hope that he could become champion at Ferrari. That he would be given the tools and would bend the team to his will. They really have changed a lot in that team, and it’s still dramatic.”

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Lewis Hamilton's start was great with the marketing, but the performance is not there

Doornbos pointed to the fact that when the announcement was made, it was great news for Ferrari and the driver as well. Lewis Hamilton joined the team amid a lot of fanfare, but the results have deserted the team in general, with a lack of performance on the track. He said,

“A great start. The media, the value of the company went up. Everybody loved it, right? But then the performance comes, or the performance doesn’t come. The communication with his engineer is terrible. It’s like in any marriage, you can have your ups and downs, but there’s no up. It was only down.”

The 2025 F1 season has been one-way traffic as well between the two Ferrari teammates. While Lewis Hamilton has yet to score a single podium, his teammate Charles Leclerc has picked up a few of them already for the team.

Edited by Mitali