F1 fans have been warned Lewis Hamilton could retire before his Ferrari contract expires if his form doesn’t improve. The seven-time world champion has endured a difficult start to life with the Scuderia, picking up just 31 points in five races.
Hamilton has not finished higher than fifth in a Grand Prix with his new team, and laboured to seventh in Saudi Arabia last Sunday. Even his one real high this year, a sprint race win in China, was followed by the crushing blow of being disqualified from the main race a day later. With his hopes of an unprecedented eighth world title already hanging by a thread, it’s now been suggested that the British driver could walk away from the sport before his deal runs out next year.
Former F1 star Ralf Schumacher believes Hamilton is struggling to get to grips with his new car. He also believes the 40-year-old icon’s enjoyment in the sport has disappeared.
“You can see that he’s really slumped over,” he told Sky Germany’s Backstage Pit Lane podcast. “If you’re standing there at some point and have no more resources and are permanently slower, then you lose everything. I know from my own experience: if it goes on like this, it’s no fun anymore.”
Schumacher added Hamilton will soon question why he is putting himself through this ordeal, adding: “If it goes on like this, there’s a risk that at some point he’ll say: ‘Look, I don’t want this anymore’.
“Obviously, it’s not working out for some reason. It’s a huge project that Ferrari and Hamilton had in mind, but at the moment, he’s a long way away from Charles Leclerc.”
The German former driver’s claims follow Hamilton’s gloomy prediction after Saudi Arabia. He doesn’t envisage an upturn in performance in the remainder of the 2025 campaign.
“I think I’ll struggle also in Miami,” he said. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll struggle for, but it’s definitely painful. At the moment, there’s no fix. So, this is how it’s going to be for the rest of the year. It’s going to be painful.”