Bernie Ecclestone would ‘steal’ £800k-a-year driver to replace Lewis Hamilton if he left Ferrari

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Lewis Hamilton made one comment at the Hungarian Grand Prix that caught everybody’s attention.

After being eliminated in Q2 at the Hungarian Grand Prix by a matter of milliseconds, Lewis Hamilton was incredibly harsh on himself.

He told Ferrari that they should ‘change drivers’ as he immediately reacted to starting Sunday’s race in 12th, while teammate Charles Leclerc put his car on pole position.

It was a remarkable statement, and after the race, Hamilton admitted he still loved racing, but was very downbeat.

Ferrari put Hamilton on a one-stop strategy that seemed doomed to fail from the start, as he got caught in a DRS train for most of his opening stint and was unable to utilise his hard tyres.

Hamilton apologised to the team in his final radio message, leaving race engineer Riccardo Adami with no doubts that he was at one of his lowest ebbs since his winter switch from Mercedes.

Bernie Ecclestone watched Hamilton become a superstar at the end of his tenure in charge of Formula 1.

He’s now suggested that if Hamilton is serious about walking away, Ferrari should try and ‘steal’ Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar as his replacement.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family

Bernie Ecclestone tells Ferrari to ‘steal’ Isack Hadjar as Lewis Hamilton walks away from F1

Ecclestone was speaking to the Daily Mail after attending the Hungarian Grand Prix, and asked about Hamilton’s predicament, he said: “Lewis is very talented, was, and probably still is.

“But like a lot of leading sports personalities, when they reach the top, there is only one way to go, and it’s not a good direction. It’s only down.

“They get tired. Lewis is tired. He’s been doing what he is doing forever. He needs a rest from it for good, a total reset to do something completely different.

“He may not think it, but he will soon get used to doing other stuff away from motor racing in retirement. I think he should have done it a while ago.

“The guy is not a cheat. But he would be cheating himself if he goes on. He should stop now.

“If I were looking after him, I would negotiate with Ferrari immediately and say, ‘If you have someone to replace Lewis, he’ll step aside.’

“If I were Lewis, I would say to Ferrari that I wanted to be paid all my contract, in full. They signed him because they thought he could do a job. “It isn’t working, so I can make way if you want me to, but that’s the arrangement. It could work for both parties.”

Ecclestone was then asked who he would replace Hamilton with if he decided to walk away from Ferrari and said: “If I could steal him, I’d take Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls. He has done super well in his first year and is a great guy.

“I also rate our friend from Brazil [Gabriel Bortoleto]. He is talented. Both of them are sensible, too.”

READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls 2025 F1 driver Isack Hadjar? Everything you need to know

Isack Hadjar putting himself in line to race for Red Bull Racing in 2026

Earlier in the season, Ecclestone identified Hamilton’s biggest problem at Ferrari, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be fixed anytime soon.

Ecclestone even suggested Ferrari will regret signing Hamilton at the start of the year, believing that they would have been better off sticking with Carlos Sainz.

Hadjar, who is on a £800,000-a-year contract at Racing Bulls, is well aware of the pressure of racing in Formula 1 after being at the centre of the media spotlight when he spun off on the formation lap on his debut at the Australian Grand Prix.

However, he’s not let that affect him, and the Frenchman has gone from strength to strength this season, and currently sits above teammate Liam Lawson and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda in the drivers’ championship.

Hadjar is considered Red Bull’s favoured candidate to replace Tsunoda, which would put him under even more pressure in 2026.

If Ferrari did somehow poach him from Red Bull to one day replace Hamilton, that pressure would be cranked up to a completely different level.