Lewis Hamilton hits back at former Mercedes engineer over ‘lets himself down’ criticism

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Lewis Hamilton doesn’t push flat out unless he believes he has a chance to win the race, one former Mercedes colleague says. Hamilton’s old performance engineer Philipp Brandle made the comments in an interview this week.

Brandle believes Hamilton ‘drives as well as anyone else’ if ‘he sees even the slightest chance’ to take victory. But he apparently ‘lets himself down’ when it’s not possible, which is a ‘real shame’.

Speaking to F1TV ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, the 39-year-old responded to that criticism. He arrives in Zandvoort off the back of two victories in three races.

Hamilton endured his longest-ever podium drought at the start of a season, waiting until round 10 in Spain to finish in the top three. Just two races later, though, he ended a two-and-a-half win drought in emotional fashion at the British GP.

He thought he’d finished second behind Mercedes teammate George Russell after a tense late battle at Spa last time out. But Russell was subsequently disqualified for failing to reach the lower weight limit, and so Hamilton inherited victory.

He’s now up to sixth in the drivers’ championship on 150 points. Russell’s misfortune has seen the gap increase to 34 ahead of the final 10 races.

Lewis Hamilton insists he’s been giving everything for Mercedes this year

Hamilton may be leaving Mercedes to join Ferrari, but he rejected any notion that he hasn’t been exerting maximum effort. He says he’s been working with his engineers to try and improve the W15.

Those efforts seem to have paid off in the form of a long-awaited breakthrough. This is the first time in F1’s ground effect era that the Silver Arrows have been able to regularly compete for wins.

And in turn, Hamilton feels that he’s becoming more comfortable behind the wheel. He trails Russell 10-4 in qualifying this season, but has beaten him in three of the last five sessions.

“I read some comments from someone earlier that I don’t drive to 100% when the car’s not right,” Hamilton said. “But I’ve been working my butt off all year. I’ve been giving it everything. It’s not been good enough, so I’ve just been trying to work at it and get better.

“As the car’s progressing, I’m becoming more and more at one with it. And now the results are starting to come, which is a great feeling.”

Lewis Hamilton told he’s not as ‘mature’ as George Russell in one area

Brandle also claimed Hamilton lacked the ‘maturity’ of Russell when it came to using data. He says he had the same problem with former teammate Nico Rosberg.

That hasn’t been a major problem during his career, though, based on his haul of seven world championships and 105 race wins. Regardless, he’s been able to compensate with what Brandle calls ‘incredible feel’.

Hamilton’s lead engineer during his time at Mercedes has been Peter Bonnington. The two have built a close relationship over the last 11 years or so.

But Bonnington won’t follow Hamilton to Ferrari after receiving a promotion. The driver had a no-poaching clause in his contract, standing in the way of a potential move.