F1 presenter blames Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen for rookies Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant’s tough campaign

Karun Chandhok, F1 presenter for Sky Sports, feels that drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have made it difficult for rookies to enter the sport because of the high expectations from them.

Nyck de Vries' Formula 1 career was cut short by Red Bull after his rookie AlphaTauri campaign came to an end because he was unable to keep up with the expectations of the team. He was apparently warned earlier to perform better, but as he failed to score any points in the first half of the season, the team replaced him with Daniel Ricciardo.

Logan Sargeant from the Williams might be facing similar issues, especially after his crash during the Dutch GP (even though it was because of a mechanical failure). It is thought that the expectations from these drivers are way too high and hence they are under pressure all of the time. According to Tony Dodgins, however, the sport should give more time to analyse these drivers.

Karun Chandhok, who earlier raced for a very brief period, mentioned that these expectations are set because of drivers like Lewis Hamilton. The Briton had a very impressive rookie season back in 2007, and then the likes of Max Verstappen and George Russell, have been quite impressive. It is because of these performance benchmarks, feels Chandhok, that rookies are under pressure.

"The problem for these guys is that drivers like Lewis, Max & George have raised the bar of expectation for a rookie. Lewis’ 2007 rookie year remains one of the most remarkable seasons the sport has ever seen."

Lawson remains to be one of the few drivers who haven't scored a single point this season, but the improvement in his performance is quite apparent and might be able to end the season with a few points in his bag.

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F1 legend feels Lewis Hamilton doesn't have the 'hunger' to win another world championship

Since the 2021 season, Lewis Hamilton has been on the chase for his record-breaking eighth world championship. However, the goal seems far for him given the performance on the car against the top-sitters; Red Bull.

Sir Jackie Stewart feels that Lewis Hamilton can still win the world championship; and with Mercedes, however, he has lost the 'hunger' for it. While comparing him to his earlier teammate, Nico Rosberg, who won the championship in 2016, he stated that the latter had that hunger. Crash.net quoted him,

"But Rosberg was hungry and had the absolute will to become world champion. Lewis no longer has that hunger. Because of that – and because the car is no longer quite as powerful – he has serious problems."

"That [eighth title] also depends on Mercedes. It's not impossible, but I still don't think he'll be able to do it."