Ecclestone commented on Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari, making harsh predictions about the British driver’s future with the Maranello team.
Bernie Ecclestone commented on Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari, expressing serious doubts about his future with the Maranello team. In an interview with the Telegraph, the former CEO of Formula One Group did not hold back on criticism, partly due to his long-standing strained relationship with Hamilton.
Ecclestone’s biting words
Ecclestone expressed doubts about whether Hamilton would stay at Ferrari for the full two-year contract: “He won’t last that long. Piero Ferrari still thinks they’ve made the right decision. I hope so. I hope they didn’t just make an impulsive decision and end up regretting it. “.
The former F1 boss then highlighted that Hamilton’s adjustment to life in Italy might pose a challenge: “I don’t think Lewis will receive the same attention at Ferrari. First of all, the team is happy with Leclerc, his teammate. Leclerc speaks their language, so they’ll take care of him. Even if Lewis performs well, there will still be many enemies, because he came in suddenly. “.
According to Ecclestone, age is not the issue for Hamilton, but rather a lack of motivation: “I have my theory about this. It’s not the age of the drivers, it’s how long they’ve been doing the same thing. I thought about Lewis: ‘He must be getting tired. He’s lost his motivation.’ If he hadn’t won a world championship, it would be different because there would be an incentive to win one. But he’s won seven. “.
Finally, stepping away from the world of Formula One, he didn’t hold back in criticizing Hamilton’s attitude: “Lewis puts himself in the spotlight in a way that makes it so that you might not like him,” Ecclestone said. “I don’t understand why he does all these other things. He needs to step away from the world of music and anything else “.
Photo: Formula 1, Scuderia Ferrari HP