Despite an excellent start to the season with Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton has made several avoidable mistakes that could weigh heavily in his quest for an eighth world title.
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Lewis Hamilton has returned to the front this season. After several more difficult years under the previous technical regulations, the seven-time world champion seems particularly comfortable with the new generation of cars and occupies the second place in the championship at mid-season.
The Briton secured his first Grand Prix win in Barcelona under the colors of Ferrari and also has four other podiums. These performances allow him to stay in the title race, even though he is now 50 points behind Kimi Antonelli.
Jolyon Palmer also believes that the driving level displayed by Hamilton is particularly impressive.
Hamilton impresses against Leclerc
For the former Formula 1 driver, Hamilton’s ability to regularly compete with Charles Leclerc is one of the most revealing signs of his return to the forefront.
“He drives brilliantly, Palmer says on the podcast F1 Nation. The fact that he is able to match Charles, or even be ahead of him in terms of pace on many occasions, shows how impressive his return to the forefront is.”
Comparing this version of Hamilton with the one who dominated Formula 1 at Mercedes remains tricky in the Briton’s eyes.
“It’s really hard to compare with his glory years at Mercedes. The competition is so different and the environment is also completely different.”
Palmer nevertheless believes that Hamilton currently shows a particularly high level of performance and has perfectly taken advantage of the regulation change.
Mistakes that are starting to cost dearly
The problem lies elsewhere. In recent races, Hamilton and Ferrari have missed several opportunities through mistakes that could have been avoided.
At Silverstone, the Ferrari driver was notably penalized after a false start. At Spa-Francorchamps, he collided with George Russell, before experiencing a Hungarian weekend also marked by several incidents.
Hamilton first received a grid penalty for impeding another driver during qualifying, then was penalized for speeding in the pit lane during the race.
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In the last four Grands Prix before the summer break, he has only been on the podium once.
“We are seeing some of the best performances he has ever delivered and that is precisely why these unnecessary penalties are frustrating” Palmer points out.
“They shot themselves in the foot”
Even more worrying for Palmer, these mistakes do not seem related to Hamilton’s driving level. They would rather stem from small lapses in the execution of race weekends.
“His driving level is exceptionally high currently. He has really adapted to this regulation and to the opportunity before him.”
“These mistakes are not really related to his talent. That is precisely what is unfortunate. It is more a lack of concentration, attention, or something between him and his race engineer.”
Hamilton is working this season with Carlo Santi, a collaboration the Briton has recently expressed particular satisfaction with. But for Palmer, the whole duo still needs to eliminate these small mistakes.
“They simply let themselves down.”
Ferrari has little margin left against Antonelli
With 50 points behind Antonelli, Hamilton remains fully engaged in the championship fight, but the margin for error shrinks as the season progresses.
Ferrari’s speed and the level displayed by Hamilton can allow him to put pressure on the championship leader. Still, this potential must be consistently converted into points.
“If Ferrari wants to win this championship, it must maximize every available point, warns Palmer. And in recent races, it has been far from achieving that.”
The second half of the season could therefore depend as much on the performance of the SF-26 as on Hamilton and Ferrari’s ability to deliver faultless weekends. Against an Antonelli particularly consistent since the start of the year, avoidable mistakes could quickly become as costly as a lack of performance.
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