Lewis Hamilton isn’t ‘useless’ but problems exposed at F1 Hungarian GP are real

Lewis Hamilton’s worrying words after his drab qualifying at the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix caused concern.

His legion of long-time supporters and the Tifosi who are the heartbeat of Ferrari will have felt clear anxiety about what Hamilton said on Saturday in Hungary.

“I’m useless,” he sullenly uttered to Sky Sports after qualifying only 12th for the grand prix, before imploring Ferrari to change their driver.

His sadness was surely exaggerated by Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc brilliantly claiming pole position, at a track where Hamilton’s eight grands prix wins are an all-time record.

That feels like a faint memory after his mood on Saturday.

It was quickly picked up by the TV broadcasters and newspapers in Ferrari’s home country.

“Hamilton's words after qualifying in Budapest are almost a surrender,” wrote Ivan Capelli for Sky Italia.

“It's a very bad blow to digest on a beloved track, with his teammate taking pole.

“Even from a physical point of view, Lewis is giving signals. This car can't digest its driving style and even with the updates the Englishman is not able to take it to the limit.

“Also because the driving instinct certainly cannot be [changed] now.”

Problems add up for Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton

Newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport noted the multiple problems Lewis Hamilton has faced since swapping Mercedes for Ferrari this year.

“Lewis' malaise is the mirror of a bond that has so far been uphill,” Giulia Toninelli wrote.

“The roller coaster of the driver's feelings and sensations are the mirror of what to date is undoubtedly the most difficult season ever faced in Formula 1 by the seven-time world champion.”

Only a week ago, Hamilton delivered a rousing rally cry about refusing to follow Fernando Alonso or Sebastian Vettel as a high-profile Ferrari signing who left without a drivers’ championship.

Just days later, after another drab qualifying which highlighted what has become an obvious weakness, his tone had completely changed to calling himself “useless”.

It was a sudden change of statement which reflects the rollercoaster from his blockbuster arrival to the blunt reality in Hungary.

Hamilton’s earliest F1 rounds for the famous Italian team saw him at odds with new race engineer Riccardo Adami, who was taking over from Mercedes’ Bono (the best driver and race strategist duo in F1 history).

The competitiveness of the SF-25 has been an issue for Hamilton at times this season too. He insisted in Belgium that upgrades would not be a game-changer.

But now in Hungary, teammate Leclerc has extracted more from his car than anybody expected.

Hamilton has found experts to defend him.

Jamie Chadwick, the former W Series driver working as a broadcaster for Sky Sports, insisted his words about being “useless” were excessive.

“It’s very hard to pinpoint looking from the outside as I don’t believe it to be the driver,” she said.

Elsewhere, Anthony Davidson questioned whether age was the real issue.

It is something that Hamilton, the second-oldest driver on the grid, constantly denies. But Davidson is adamant that nobody is immune to declining with age.

Hamilton will surely retain backing from the media in Italy, who are desperate to see a Ferrari driver win the championship for the first time since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.

His popularity with the all-important Tifosi also shows no sign of breaking.

The retaining of team principal Fred Vasseur this week on a new contract also shows a commitment from the Ferrari top bosses to stability.

The arrival of the F1 2026 regulations next year will offer the team, and their struggling superstar, a fresh start and hopefully better machinery.

But that will seem a very long way away for Hamilton, on Sunday in Hungary.

His priority will be to reverse the fortunes of his disappointing qualifying stint with a drive through the midfield to remember.