Fear for Lewis Hamilton: “A danger he will say ‘I don’t want this anymore’”

A fear has been raised that Lewis Hamilton could walk away from Formula 1 earlier than expected if his form does not improve.

Hamilton has not yet enjoyed the blockbuster start to his Ferrari era that his fans will have dreamed of.

His machinery has lacked the performance of the McLarens, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and even his former team Mercedes.

Hamilton has also been downbeat about his own driving performances at various times this season since donning the famous red overalls.

Lewis Hamilton might say 'why am I doing this to myself?'

"He just can't get along with the car,” Ralf Schumacher told Sky Germany.

“We talk a lot about Lando Norris, but it's almost worse with him. You can see that he really collapsed.

“If you then stand there at some point and have no means at all and are permanently slower, then you lose everything.

"I know it from my own experience: If this continues, it won't be fun anymore.

“Then at some point in the morning he wakes up and thinks to himself: 'Why am I doing this to myself? I'm not having fun anymore, I can't do it anymore. I'm in my team's way.'

"If this continues, there is a danger that at some point he will say: 'Watch out, I don't want this anymore. I want to live my life now, I'm 40 years old. I'm so rich, I don't do this to myself anymore. Obviously, for some reason, it doesn't work’.”

"It's a huge project that Ferrari and Hamilton had in mind.

“But at the moment he is far away from Charles Leclerc. I would not have thought that it would be so extreme.

“However, China has also shown that as soon as he gets into the car and the track and the car suit him, he delivers. There can still be something to come."

Hamilton won the sprint race in China and was again able to deliver a good result in the shorter format at the F1 Miami Grand Prix on Saturday.

He finished third, behind both McLarens, in the sprint race this weekend but his woes returned with qualifying for the grand prix.

Hamilton qualified poorly in 12th before listing a series of issues with his Ferrari.

Teammate Leclerc has echoed Hamilton’s complaints after qualifying in eighth.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur told Sky Italia: "We did the time with the used tyre, we are missing something with the new tyre, maybe that's why we are better in the race.

“Compared to Max we lose 4 tenths in the first two corners, we have to understand what we are doing wrong.

“The car is the same as it was the fastest in Jeddah, we have to be ready already in Turn 1.

“We hope for rain, with strategy and good pace we can do well."