Whisper in Italy that Lewis Hamilton at odds with something Ferrari can't change

A suggestion from Ferrari’s homeland centres on an intriguing reason for Lewis Hamilton’s difficulty this season.

Hamilton has endured a poor first half to his debut year at Ferrari, since leaving Mercedes where he won six of his seven F1 drivers’ championships.

A sprint race win in China hinted at what was to come - but it has not been followed by many more moments for Hamilton to cheer.

It has been suggested that changing from Mercedes to Ferrari, a team which is not built to his specific needs, has hampered him.

“Every driver has gone through at least one difficult moment in their career and that's what is happening to Hamilton,” Vicky Piria, an Italian racing driver, told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“Perhaps he underestimated the change of team because he moved to a team not built around him. He has no contacts or relationships established for years.

“Perhaps he arrived with ambitions that later turned out to be not very concrete.

“He is experiencing a moment of great discouragement.

"I don't think he's demotivated, he wants to win. Lewis needs more time to adapt in an F1 that is constantly changing weekend after weekend."

Ferrari told how they must do better to help drivers

But there was alarm at the most recent grand prix, in Hungary, when a miserable Lewis Hamilton told Ferrari to replace him after a bad qualifying performance.

Those words have created a buzz about whether Hamilton could quit F1 much earlier than he initially planned.

"It's surprising to hear such statements because Lewis is a great communicator,” Piria said.

“He is always very attentive to words, without hiding his emotions.”

However, Piria is also keen to point out what Ferrari can do better.

Charles Leclerc qualified brilliantly on pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix but lost a podium due to a strange issue in the latter stages.

Leclerc’s X-rated radio message was heard around the world but he later had to backtrack when he learned that a chassis problem caused his sudden loss of pace.

Piria pointed towards the team, saying: "Every now and then it seems that Ferrari with the attempt to protect itself and its drivers instead ends up creating more internal interest in already delicate situations.

“If they had communicated more directly the type of problem that arose on Leclerc's car in Hungary, for example, it probably wouldn't have created all this noise."