Ex-F1 strategist Bernie Collins believes Lewis Hamilton’s lack of tempo through the Monaco Grand Prix weekend was “extra worrying” than the problems he had over crew radio.
Monaco was one other troublesome weekend for Hamilton in Ferrari colors.
He completed a distant fifth, almost 50 seconds behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton was on the again foot going into the race after selecting up a three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen.
It got here after Hamilton was misinformed about whether or not Verstappen was on a scorching lap or not.
This confusion over crew radio continued within the race, with Hamilton uncertain about who he was preventing in Monaco.
Talking on the most recent episode of the Sky F1 podcast, Collins defined why Hamilton’s lack of tempo through the center a part of the race was a trigger for concern.
“I used to be a bit stunned that on the second pit cease, Lewis had misplaced sufficient time that Piastri might field and are available out in entrance of him,” she mentioned.
So the tempo was off, and what we’ve seen with the brand new regulation is that the highest 5 had been all pushing; in earlier races, that wasn’t the case.
“Lewis simply wasn’t capable of push and stick with them, which is stunning given how a lot Lewis loves Monaco. He appeared rather more assured than Leclerc was, so that’s extra worrying for me than the qualifying radio stuff.”
Sky F1 commentator David Croft interjected and prompt that Hamilton was doubtlessly backing off to assist teammate Leclerc forward.
Collins was uncertain about Croft’s principle.
“There was nobody straight behind Lewis. Lewis was very a lot on his personal in no man’s land in that center bit,” Collins added.
“Positively the second half of the race. I’m not actually positive what went on via then.”
Will Hamilton bounce again in Barcelona?
Through the years, the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona has been a contented looking floor for Hamilton.
He was unbeaten on the Spanish circuit between 2017 and 2021 for Mercedes.
Even throughout his lean years for the crew, Hamilton made it onto the rostrum.
Hamilton completed second behind Verstappen in 2023 and adopted it up with one other rostrum look in 2024.
With Hamilton struggling for outright tempo relative to Leclerc for the reason that China dash, it’s an ideal likelihood to get his season again on observe.
