“Overprotected” Lewis Hamilton not used to “being exposed” at Ferrari

F1 legend Jacques Villeneuve thinks Lewis Hamilton was “over protected” during his time at Mercedes which means he “doesn’t know how to react” to Ferrari’s difficult start to the 2025 season.

Hamilton won six of his seven titles with Mercedes across a nine-year period.

The seven-time world champion’s final three seasons with the team proved to be unsuccessful as Mercedes struggled to get to grips with the ground effect rules.

Seeking a new challenge in the final stage of his F1 career, Hamilton made the shock decision to join Ferrari.

On the back of Ferrari’s best season in over a decade, finishing just 14 points behind McLaren at the top of the constructors’ standings much was expected of Hamilton in 2025.

The partnership hasn’t lived up to expectations just yet, with a sprint race victory in China the highlight so far.

Hamilton has struggled to adapt to the handling of the SF-25, languishing well behind Charles Leclerc in numerous races.

While Miami was a step forward for Hamilton, in terms of being closer to Leclerc, Ferrari were only the fifth-fastest team as they fell behind Williams.

Speaking to Vision4Sport, Villeneuve claimed that Hamilton doesn’t know how to “react” to Ferrari’s slump after being “overly protected” at Mercedes.

“Lewis still brings a lot of image to the team, so I don’t see any issues just yet. It’s how much he starts doubting that’s the problem. If he starts doubting too much, then it will be hard to recover.

“I don’t know Lewis well enough. It’s really hard to know and understand Lewis. He has his own protective bubble, so it’s really hard to read. He spent all those years at Mercedes, overly protected.

“And that seemed at the time to have been a necessity. Now he is not used to being exposed, and he doesn’t know how to react to it particularly well. I guess he wasn’t expecting what had happened at all.”

A defining part of the season for Ferrari

The upcoming triple-header is the defining part of Ferrari's season.

Teams typically introduce upgrades and new developments for the European rounds.

Ferrari will do the same as they look to cure their rear-end suspension woes.

The Spanish Grand Prix at the end of the month will also be an intriguing weekend as the FIA’s stricter flexi-wing tests come into play.

Red Bull expect that the more stringent testing will impact McLaren’s competitiveness.

If Ferrari are still out of race-winning contention by the end of May, their attention will likely turn to next year and the new regulations.