Ex-Mercedes colleague shares insight into Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari struggles

Williams team principal James Vowles has “zero doubt” that Lewis Hamilton will soon overcome his adaptation struggles at Ferrari.

Seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton has endured a tough opening 10 rounds with Ferrari since makking his blockbuster switch from Mercedes over the winter.

Ferrari have been off the pace of their rivals but Hamilton has also struggled to get to grips with the SF-25 and has largely been convincingly outperformed by teammate Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton claimed both pole position and the win in the China sprint and also finished inside the top three in the shortened Miami race, but is yet to finish higher than fifth in a regular grand prix, while Leclerc has three podiums.

Asked if he is surprised by Hamilton’s struggles to adapt at Ferrari, Vowles, who worked closely with the 40-year-old Briton during their respective stints at Mercedes, told media including Crash.net: “No.

“Lewis has some elements he needs from a car he needs to feel strength from it, and then it’s a confidence builder which he is then able to build on from there onwards.

“I can see it in what’s going on that he hasn’t quite got that yet, but I have zero doubt that he will be on the pace. You can see at times when he is confident, he and Charles are like this [gestures to small gap with fingers].

“Miami is a good example - he was pushing Charles and ahead of him. He’s just not consistently there weekend on weekend.

“You can see it with Carlos [Sainz] or anyone who’s adapting to these cars and changing, there is so much to get on top of and learn as a result. It’s all possible, it’s all adaption.”

Hamilton has also been backed to turnaround his current woes by former team boss Toto Wolff.

Hamilton confident he is making progress

While Hamilton refused to go into detail about his struggles ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, he feels he is taking steps in the right direction.

“I’ve spoken so much about it, so I don’t particularly want to give you more insight into it, because, and I am not making excuses,” he told media including Crash.net in Spielberg.

“We were second in the constructors’ before the last race, and we’ve had many problems in both sides, driver and car, but we are working towards it. The positive is that we are making improvements, we are progressing, whether or not you see that is not necessarily important to me.

“Personally, I feel like I am making progress, we are making progress, and that is what is most important.”