Lewis Hamilton accused of ‘staging’ message to Ferrari with his ‘exaggerated’ claims at the Hungarian Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton has firmly lost the beaming smile that the seven-time champion had after joining Ferrari at the start of this term, after yet another nightmare in Hungary.

The 40-year-old realised his childhood dream of driving for the pride of Italy this season. Yet his new life with Ferrari has been anything but a dream, with Hamilton enduring the longest drought of his 19-year career for Grand Prix podiums amid his lowest-scoring start to a term.

Hamilton has now failed to finish on a podium for 16 rounds, stretching back to the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix when he sealed second for Mercedes. The Stevenage-born star had made at least one podium within the first 10 rounds of a season every term prior to joining Ferrari.

Only achieving P12 in the 2025 Hungarian GP even ensured Hamilton hit the summer break sixth in the F1 drivers’ standings with 109 points after 14 rounds. Hamilton’s previous worst tally after 14 rounds since F1 introduced the current points system in 2010 was 142 in 2012.

Christian Danner does not believe Lewis Hamilton meant his claim that Ferrari ‘need to change driver’

The Hungarian GP was Hamilton’s latest nightmare amid his first year at Ferrari, having even only qualified P12 for the Briton’s fourth failure to reach Q3 to date. After teammate Charles Leclerc took pole position, Hamilton called himself ‘useless’ after qualifying in Hungary, too.

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

In private, Hamilton was delighted for Leclerc taking pole in Hungary when Ferrari held their debrief 90 minutes after the Briton also claimed the Scuderia should consider replacing him. And Christian Danner cannot believe that Hamilton truly thought Ferrari should replace him.

Instead, the ex-Arrows F1 driver feels Hamilton suggested Ferrari ‘need to change driver’ to send a message to his bosses in Maranello and the world that the real cause for his plight is not the 105-time Grand Prix winner. Hamilton was 0.247 seconds slower than Leclerc in Q2.

Danner told Motorsport-Magazin: “A Lewis Hamilton who is so self-deprecating that he acts as if he has forgotten how to drive? Sorry, that seemed a bit exaggerated to me in the sense that there is a bit more staging going on than is actually the case.

“‘I’m raising awareness in the world, which already knows that I’m not that bad’. I’m pretty sure that was intentional on Hamilton’s part, and not being honest. He didn’t honestly doubt himself. That can’t be right? That doesn’t suit him.

“He portrayed himself so poorly to show Ferrari, ‘Guys, if you think I don’t realise what’s going on, you’re wrong’.”

Lewis Hamilton feels useless at Ferrari as his struggles continue

It has been suggested that Hamilton feels useless helping Ferrari develop their car, more so than in terms of his driving ability, after his latest disappointing weekend amid the 2025 F1 season in Hungary. The Briton’s average finishing position this term is P6.5 from 13 finishes.

Without Hamilton’s disqualification from the Chinese Grand Prix, where he also won the F1 Sprint from pole position, his average finishing position would still be P6.5 after finishing P6 in Shanghai. His other best result was even in a Sprint after finishing the Miami Sprint in P3.

So, as his struggles continue, the Briton’s mood continues to become bleaker and bleaker in Maranello. But Jean Alesi feels Michael Schumacher would never make the claims Hamilton did in Hungary by suggesting Ferrari should consider replacing him after he qualified in P12.