True feelings about Lewis Hamilton's pain from “people in the paddock” exposed

Concern for Lewis Hamilton from F1 insiders has grown, according to a racing driver inside the paddock.

Lewis Hamilton endured one of his lowest ebbs in Formula 1 at the final race before the summer break, the F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, where he qualified poorly then finished 12th.

He called himself ‘useless’ and told Ferrari to replace him, words which have panicked onlookers who have admired him for years.

“I have the deepest respect for people putting their hand up,” nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen told the F1 Nation podcast.

“This is a seven-time world champion doing that.

“But they race on self-confidence. It gets under his skin. I hope he finds his mojo.

“But people in the paddock, they worry about Lewis.

“He has a 100% contract for next year and Ferrari want him to do well.”

Lewis Hamilton backed for sharing documents to Ferrari

Hamilton has shared documents with his wider team in an attempt to explain his difficulties with the SF-25.

Kristensen insists that this practice is normal, and can be beneficial.

Kristensen revealed he did similarly himself: “We gave thoughts on some things. It is part of the dialogue to build the team and camaraderie, which builds trust.

“Your engineer has to be close to you, in this sense.

“In the past year it was ‘the team know I am leaving, maybe they are focusing [elsewhere] more which is normal’. But now? He is hard on himself.”

Journalist Diego Mejia added to the F1 Nation podcast: “Hopefully they can build what Lewis needs, what he had in his good times at Mercedes.

“There is a question - it happened with Daniel Ricciardo - these cars are so special that they maybe negate how some drivers get their speed.

“I would expect things to get better on Lewis’ side. Hopefully he closes the year in a better way.”

Hamilton will return to action after the summer break at the F1 Dutch Grand Prix.

However, his dream of a record-breaking eighth drivers’ title feels further away than ever.

At least, the F1 2026 regulations will offer him the opportunity of a new start - and an end to the ground-effect machinery which has never been his forte.