Lewis Hamilton ‘upset’ by one suggestion people keep making about his Formula 1 future at Ferrari

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Lewis Hamilton will hope that the upcoming summer break provides the reset that he and Ferrari appear to need going into the final stretch of the season.

Ferrari are technically the best of the rest behind McLaren in the constructors’ championship this season after 13 race weekends.

Fred Vasseur’s team are 28 points ahead of Mercedes and 56 points better off than Red Bull after the Belgian Grand Prix.

However, both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have yet to win a Grand Prix this season, and the gap to the leaders, McLaren, is concerning.

The advantage Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris had over the rest of the field at Spa highlighted how dominant they are this season.

Leclerc drove brilliantly all weekend to join them both on the podium, but was 20 seconds worse off by the end of the race.

In contrast, Hamilton had a weekend to forget at Spa, despite his drive through the pack on Sunday.

Hamilton signed a two-year deal with Ferrari going into this season, with the option to extend his contract for a further campaign.

However, journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm believes that the seven-time world champion isn’t happy with suggestions that he might not be on the grid in 2026 because of the difficulties he’s faced this year.

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Lewis Hamilton ‘upset’ that people are saying he could walk away from Ferrari this season

Mitchell-Malm was speaking about Hamilton on The Race F1 Podcast and explained: “He said, it’s crunch time, isn’t it? I think it has upset him a little bit, Lewis, that there have been people suggesting that you might just give up and walk away after one season because it’s not working.

“Look, there might genuinely be a bit of just wanting to sort of cover his own backside a little because it’s not going quite well on track.

“So, he’s trying to go, but look how hard I’m working off-track, but I think that might be doing him a little bit of a disservice.

“There might be a little bit of that in there because pretty much every F1 driver I’ve ever met does have ego, we’re all guilty of it, so there’ll be a little bit of that.

“But I think he’s taken to heart sometimes some suggestions that he’s not really up for it. So, I think this is his way of saying, if you don’t think I’m up for it, I’m working harder than ever.”

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How Lewis Hamilton is going ‘the extra mile’ to help Ferrari become F1 champions again

During the race weekend in Belgium, Hamilton talked about the documents he had been sending to Ferrari chiefs to help them better understand where he thinks the team can still improve.

After 12 seasons with Mercedes and six drivers’ championships in that time, Hamilton knows exactly what it takes to be successful in Formula 1.

Leclerc found questions about Hamilton’s documents amusing, and speaking about the work the 40-year-old is doing behind the scenes at Maranello, Mitchell-Malm continued: “I think Hamilton feels he’s going the extra mile to be like, that in my own time, I will also think about this and those things we discussed in that meeting, I’ve elaborated on them and here are all of my thoughts, I think it’s just using that time in between where it does happen.

“This was the gap between Silverstone and Belgium; there was an extra week compared to normal.

“It’s not uncommon for there to be a blank week in between races and weekends, but there were two.

“So, it was just a good example of, right, there’s a little bit more time than normal, so I’m going to put in a little bit more effort than normal.”