BBC F1 pundit Sam Chicken has described Lewis Hamilton’s efficiency on the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as “fairly strange”.
Hamilton struggled for tempo on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, ending over 30 seconds behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.
It was Hamilton’s weakest weekend of the 12 months, ending a disappointing seventh.
Jeddah has been a poor observe for Hamilton since 2022, however the seven-time world champion was understandably downbeat after the race.
Hamilton admitted that it could possibly be a difficult season and that there are not any indicators of turning issues round.
“For the time being there isn’t any repair so that is how it is going to be for the remainder or the 12 months. It will be painful,” Hamilton mentioned.
“In qualifying it is me extracting efficiency and within the race I attempted every little thing and the automotive simply did not need to go any faster.”
Chicken, who was a part of Mercedes within the early 2010s, gave his view on Hamilton’s struggles in Saudi Arabia.
“It’s tough to listen to folks say that Lewis Hamilton is misplaced,” Chicken mentioned on the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast. “The truth that he’s received over 100 Components 1 races, however he doesn’t look snug. He actually doesn’t look snug. He doesn’t sound snug.
“There’s nothing optimistic in the intervening time coming from him. There’s no glimmers of nicely, we have been good on this stint, and we have been good on this section of the race, it was simply all fairly strange, sadly.”
Hamilton must do “some homework”
Chicken believes Hamilton must push for solutions when he returns to Maranello to know his struggles.
“I’m an enormous Lewis fan, I’ve supported him for a lot of a 12 months and I’ll say that point and time once more and he’s world class,” Chicken added.
“However, proper now, he’s not snug in that Ferrari and it’s actually displaying and it’s protruding particularly whenever you’ve bought Charles Leclerc doing drives like immediately and looking out utterly at one with the automotive and dragging it to a podium when Lewis is ending 30 seconds again.
“I imply, he’s bought to be performing some homework now again in Maranello and asking questions. How is Charles extracting miles extra out of this automotive than me?
“What do I have to do otherwise? How can I alter my driving model? What instruments is he utilizing? What setup is he utilizing on the opposite facet of the storage? As a result of I must be making some modifications.”
