Lewis Hamilton shockingly suggests Ferrari should sack him in damning admission
The seven-time champion endured another poor Saturday, qualifying 13th for race at the Hungaroring, the final grand prix before Formula 1's summer break.
To rub salt into the wound, Hamilton's teammate Charles Leclerc claimed a surprise pole position ahead of McLaren duo and championship contenders Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Hamilton had a tough start to the last grand prix in Belgium but recovered to score good points and could well do the same on Sunday at a track where he has won a record eight times.
But after learning his qualifying result, the 40-year-old was completely down trodden, muttering: 'Every time, every time,' on the team radio.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he clarified he was referring to himself before giving a damning assessment of his performances: 'It's me every time.
'I'm useless, absolutely useless. The team have no problem. You've seen the car's on pole.
'So we probably need to change driver.' More Trending
He latter added to F1 TV: 'I'm just useless. It clearly is [me].
'I drove terribly. It is what it is.'
More to follow…
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
MORE: Max Verstappen learns punishment after throwing towel out of F1 car
MORE: Who is Felipe Drugovich? Fernando Alonso's Hungarian Grand Prix replacement
MORE: Lewis Hamilton admits he's cancelling work just to play new video game
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
F1 stars discuss which teams they could join in secret chats away from prying eyes
Carlos Sainz has been around the block in Formula One and is certainly well in tune with the rumour mill surrounding the sport, which he opened up on in a recent podcast appearance Carlos Sainz admitted there is a location where Formula One stars secretly discuss their future. The Williams star has driven for five teams in the sport so far and is not certainly not a stranger when it comes to speculation about a seat on the grid. Currently in the midst of his first season with the British team after he was replaced at Ferrari by Lewis Hamilton last year, he's been partnered up with Alex Albon but has endured a tricky campaign with just 16 points to his name after 13 races. Sainz's departure from Ferrari came as a shock to the F1 world, especially after having a career-best year in 2024 where he finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship standings with 290 points, just two behind McLaren's Oscar Piastri. However, a chance to acquire the seven-time world champion was an opportunity the Prancing Horse simply couldn't turn down. Speculation surrounding where Sainz would race next was strife and during an appearance on The High Performance Podcast, the 30-year-old said he had discussed his future with Albon before signing with the Grove-based team. "I already knew Alex," the Spaniard said. "I had talked with him in the paddock. I remember a few times like, 'Are you coming or not?' I was like 'Probably, I think so.'" Sainz then told Jake Humphrey that the drivers' parade, when the stars of F1 are taken around the track on a truck before a race, is an ideal place for the racers to speak about their future away from watching eyes and ears. He continued: "We always have those kind of conversations in the drivers parade. If it's silly season, we talk a bit about silly season and I think everyone at the time was asking me, 'Where are you going, what are you going to do?' and I must have talked with him about it." With Sainz in a lowly 16th place in the standings, Albon sits eighth with 54 points to his name, just nine behind Mercedes ' Kimi Antonelli. While the Williams pair look to enjoy a friendly relationship, the 'Smooth Operator' admitted they have no qualms about going to battle on the track. "Don't underestimate that even Alex and myself when we put the helmet on, we want to beat each other as much as any other team-mate in the grid," he added. "It's just when we take our helmets off, we sit in that meeting and we give feedback about the car. "A good thing that we managed to do is leave the ego aside, leave your personal interests aside and say, 'How do we make this car quicker as soon as possible?' For that, I'm more honest than I would be with him or other team-mates about what I feel on the car and he's more honest with me on the past of the car and where the car has ended up. Sainz also opened up about feeling rocked by Ferrari's decision to replace him with the Brit. Admitting that he believed he was set to remain with the Italian team for the foreseeable future, it was a phone call that let him know of Frederic Vasseur's decision to part ways with him that left him "completely shocked." "I received a phone call and I suddenly received the news," he explained on the podcast. "I was completely shocked. I went from believing I was going to be in Ferrari for a while to, 'What am I going to do now?' "It never occurred to me that that could happen." When asked whether he was given any reason over his departure, he answered: "No, not really. There weren't many reasons. I'm not going to go a lot into the detail of those conversations. "But I was like, 'Okay now it's my time to shine and to prove to everyone what I'm worth. It's the most important moment of my life now.'"
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Michael Schumacher 'embarrassed' F1 team boss with special delivery to his wife
James Vowles worked closely with Michael Schumacher at Mercedes when he was already a seven-time Formula 1 champion and got to know the German on a personal level Michael Schumacher has earned plenty of plaudits over the years for his achievements in Formula 1. But those who worked closest with him in the paddock also knew a different side to the seven-time World champion. One of those who had the pleasure of working closely with Schumacher during his time as an F1 driver is James Vowles. These days he is team principal at Williams but, before joining, he spent many years at Mercedes including between 2010 and 2012 when the German, brought out of retirement, helped to establish the outfit on the grid. He did not win a race over the course of those three seasons, but did manage on podium at the 2012 European Grand Prix held in Valencia. One of the biggest impressions Schumacher made on Vowles, though, was as a human. Speaking about the legendary racer on the High Performance podcast, Vowles gave an example of how Schumacher showed he cared about his colleagues. "First and foremost, he had a genuine interest in who you were and your life," the Williams chief said. "I went motorbiking on track with him - as in race bikes - on track with him in Paul Ricard, and we had the time of our lives. We both still laugh about it for many years after that," Vowles told hosts Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes. 'He knew at the time my partner's birthday – flowers arrive at home and it embarrassed me because I didn't do that much. He would take a genuine interest in who you are, who your family is, what drives you. Every single person in the team. And that's hard to do. "It's not because he's doing it because he wants to gain advantage. He does it because he really cares. That's Michael. The Michael you had front-facing in front of the media is a very different Michael to what was behind the scenes. And that's how he did it, fundamentally. So he would bring everyone on the journey and lead everyone on the journey. "He was a leader that absolutely, he would say, 'I'm going to go this way'. The team would follow him there, so much so that both sides of the garage wanted him to do well. So much so that one of my regrets in my career is we didn't get a win for him. That still hurts me today. He deserved a win." Sky Sports launches discounted Formula 1 package This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more £43 £35 Sky Get Sky Sports here Product Description Vowles did not specify who his partner was at that time. But he is now married to surgeon Rachel Rolph and they together confirmed last month the birth of their second child together – after their first daughter, Elodie, was born in early 2024. Speaking about his "unbelievable" wife in a Telegraph interview days earlier, he said: "She's one of the best surgeons in the UK, trained in plastics and breast cancer. She's now doing a PhD on the use of mesh in the rebuild process post-mastectomy. Honestly, it's life-changing stuff. I just work in F1 – she's the clever one."
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Lewis Hamilton is not ‘useless' but must accept he is not the driver he once was
The suggestion from Lewis Hamilton that Ferrari should find someone to replace him is nonsense. The remark was made soon after he watched his team-mate take a shock pole position on a track that he himself has dominated at over the years with eight wins and nine poles. It was surely not a serious suggestion, but was rather made with the dejection from qualifying 12th still raw. Hamilton was again wearing his heart on his sleeve. For any Formula One driver this result would hurt. For an F1 driver with seven world championships – and a desire to win a record eighth – it is evidently unbearable. On Sunday morning, he may feel differently. Clearly, this was not a good performance by any stretch of the imagination. 'Absolutely useless' are the exact words Hamilton used. Yet perhaps his comments at the Hungaroring are more reflective of the current state of play at Ferrari in 2025. Hamilton has now had 13 races to settle into the car, the culture and the general environment at Maranello. That is plenty, but at the same time, it is a long way from the six years that Leclerc has had. "I'm useless, absolutely useless" 😔 A devastated Lewis Hamilton after his Q2 exit in Hungary 🎙️ — Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) August 2, 2025 On paper, Hamilton is performing decently. He has at least won a race in 2025 – albeit a sprint race – and is only 30 points behind Leclerc, who has had a strong season yet again. He has not been outclassed by the man 13 years his junior, but he has been second best. In only two grands prix has Hamilton finished ahead and in just five qualifying sessions of 17 has he been the lead Ferrari. In the run of five races before the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend, Hamilton actually had the stronger qualifying average of the two Ferrari drivers. The strength of his emotions on Saturday evening are probably coloured by the events of the past couple of weeks. Let us not forget that Hamilton had a reasonably strong weekend in the rain at Silverstone, narrowly missing out on a home podium after qualifying ahead of Leclerc. Progress was being made as he drew closer to Leclerc's qualifying pace. Does Hamilton still have 'it'? At the following race in Belgium, though, Ferrari brought an upgraded rear suspension. It was hoped this would help the team set the car up more in its optimal window and for the drivers to have a car they could trust more. That was the case for Leclerc, who qualified and finished fourth in the sprint race and qualified and finished third in the Sunday grand prix at Spa. Hamilton, meanwhile, was eliminated in both SQ1 and Q1, qualifying 18th and 16th. He fought back to seventh in the grand prix but it was Leclerc who took a fourth podium in six races as well as the plaudits. Trying to even half-heartedly entertain the proposition of Ferrari changing drivers is silly. It would not happen mid-season. Even next year, who on the grid would be a sensible and feasible replacement? Hamilton may no longer be performing at the very top of his game but he is still one of the best drivers on the grid with a wealth of experience, technical knowledge and the drive to succeed. Yet on the evidence of the last few seasons, he is no longer in the very top bracket of drivers, perhaps a notch or two currently below Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Charles Leclerc. Does Hamilton still have 'it'? There are still a few times in a season when he can find 'it' but they are less frequent than at his peak and less frequent than the men in the group above. For the majority of his career, he has been able to operate at an elevated level across most of the season. That is why he was able to win six world championships in seven years. However good your machinery is, success like that does not happen by accident. Yet for any sportsman the race against age and waning powers is one that cannot be won. It is too early to say if that is the case for Hamilton now, but we will know in another two or three years. The decline of Michael Schumacher – another man with seven world titles to his name – was more drastic and apparent because he had three seasons out of F1 before returning with Mercedes. In that stint, he was beaten comfortably by Nico Rosberg but still had the occasional moment, like his Monaco 'pole' in 2012. Hamilton's decline has been more gradual and less obvious. It is also allied to his struggles to get to grips with the current post-2021 generation of ground-effect cars. He, too, is now up against someone with far less success but with comparable talent. As much as Hamilton appears to no longer be the driver he once was, the hardest thing for him may be to accept the dawning reality that the man in the other car is just quicker.
