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Former Red Bull driver David Coulthard claimed that Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton was a "realist" and was aware that he needed to do more to get ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc in 2025. The seven-time F1 world champion had a lot of hype ahead of his move to Ferrari at the beginning of the 2025 season, as many believed it would be a fresh start after a difficult end to his time at Mercedes.
The 40-year-old has been playing second fiddle to his new teammate Charles Leclerc in the first five races of the season and has only amassed 31 points so far.
There have been instances where the British driver has looked like his old self, such as his dominant Sprint race win at the Chinese Grand Prix earlier in the year and his confident drive in the main race at the Bahrain GP, but these instances are far and few.
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Speaking with Channel 4, Coulthard gave a damning verdict on Lewis Hamilton's struggles and termed the latter as a 'realist' believing that the Brit would recognize his underperformance, saying (via Crash.net):
“He is a realist. That realism has made him one of the most successful drivers in the history of the sport, only equalled by Michael Schumacher in terms of championships. This continues to be an underperforming Lewis Hamilton."
“Those who can see nothing past him will say ‘who am I to say that?’ I’m saying it based on data, based on facts. He knows that he needs more to get in front of Charles,” Coulthard added.
Apart from the Sprint segment and the main qualifying at the Shanghai international circuit, Lewis Hamilton has failed to finish ahead of his teammate in any competitive session thus far, with his gap to Charles Leclerc increasing after every qualifying session.
Ferrari team boss backs Lewis Hamilton despite a low period
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur stated that he had Lewis Hamilton's back and would continue to support him '2000%' despite his disappointing start to his partnership with the Italian team.
Speaking with F1.com after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the Frenchman extended his support to Hamilton and said:
“I will be 2000% behind him, and I will give him support here, and we will start from tomorrow morning to try to find solutions and reasons and to work on it early in the morning."
"But honestly, I am not too worried; if you have a look on what he did in China or what he did in the race in Bahrain last week, or even on the first part of the season except in this weekend, the potential is there for sure," he added.
Hamilton would hope to rebuild his confidence from the upgrade package that the Prancing Horses will introduce in Imola in their bid to score points more consistently and turn their 2025 season around.
