Lewis Hamilton told the ‘radical’ change he must make over the summer break to succeed at Ferrari

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Lewis Hamilton capped off a miserable weekend with a non-points finish in 12th place at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished in the same place that he qualified on Saturday during the race, while pole sitter Charles Leclerc dropped to fourth despite fighting with the two McLarens early in the race.

Ferrari were nursing an issue with Leclerc as his pace dropped off dramatically towards the end, with him lapping two seconds slower than the leaders. Team principal Fred Vasseur was worried that Leclerc would not finish the race in Hungary, such was the drop-off in lap time.

Hamilton also struggled to make any progress behind Hadjar, with the seven-time world champion complaining about a lack of grip. Ferrari also told Hamilton early on to lift and coast, which impacted his ability to close the gap to rivals.

It capped off a weekend in which Hamilton said he was “just useless” when questioned over his performance in qualifying, after Leclerc managed an unexpected pole. Discussing how his weekend panned out, Peter Windsor has identified one change he thinks Hamilton must make in the summer break.

Peter Windsor tells Lewis Hamilton he needs to be “hyper-focused” on being a racing driver

Hamilton’s move to Ferrari generated a lot of interest in F1 at the start of the season, but with just one Sprint race win in China, it has been a disappointing affair.

After Hamilton cast a dejected figure in the Hungarian GP media pen all weekend, Windsor thinks the Briton must take radical steps over the summer break if he wants to salvage his season.

“For a guy who is a seven-time world champion and to be on the retainer that he’s on, to be saying this and feeling this, even if he was saying it sarcastically, he shouldn’t be saying that. He shouldn’t be answering the question for a start, and beyond that, he needs to be thinking about why he’s not driving the way he should,” said Windsor.

“It’s all to do with the money, the brand, and the thing that started at Ferrari dressing up in the black kit and the F40 instead of just being ultra-focused on being a racing driver at Ferrari. Just enjoying the privilege and be nothing but a hyper-focused racing driver. That’s what he needs to do over the August break.

“It’s very difficult for Lewis to do, to strip himself of the brand that he’s become and just become a pure racing driver. It needs to be something as radical as that.”

How far off is Lewis Hamilton to Charles Leclerc?

The past two races have been a headache for Hamilton as any momentum he has been building up since the start of the season has stalled.

Hamilton has been close to Leclerc for most of the season having outqualified his teammate in three of the four races before the Belgium GP.

The seven-time world champion went on to suffer errors at Spa, the first being a brake issue in Sprint qualifying and then having his lap deleted for track limits in Grand Prix qualifying.

Even with the troublesome qualifying sessions at Spa and Hungary, Hamilton has cut his average qualifying deficit to Leclerc from 0.227s at the start of the season to 0.146s at the midway point.

Viewed in the context of him trying to adapt to a new car and changes going on in the background at Ferrari, it shows that Hamilton might not be as ‘useless’ as he thinks amid their struggles on track.