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The F1 analyst says Lewis Hamilton must improve his confidence and pace when he joins Ferrari next season, and looks ahead to whether the Scuderia can compete for the title.
F1 analyst Karun Chandhok has analysed Lewis Hamilton’s underwhelming performances in qualifying for Mercedes this season.
In our exclusive interview, Chandhok, who competed in Formula One between 2010 to 2011, says Hamilton is lacking confidence in his qualifying performances and questions whether he will be a contender in the F1 betting for the World Driver’s Championship in 2025.
What have you made of Lewis Hamilton’s performances in qualifying and have you been surprised by his struggles?
He’s clearly struggling for confidence over the one lap. His qualifying score with George, including Sprint sessions, is 20-6. For a guy with over 100 pole positions, it’s a real surprise. But you listen to Lewis speak afterwards and he says things such as ‘I’m just not good at qualifying’ and ‘I just can’t qualify’. It’s really weird.
I think he is low on confidence and, for whatever reason, I genuinely think he doesn’t know where the qualifying performances have gone. But from Ferrari’s perspective, ultimately, I don’t think they have hired Lewis for speed. They have Charles Leclerc for speed. They hired Lewis because he knows how to win a World Championship.
He will bring them experience and the knowledge of how to put a season campaign together. In terms of speed, I still believe Charles Leclerc is the best qualifier on the grid. In terms of out-and-out one lap pace, he is the fastest driver in F1 today. They’ve got speed but what they haven’t had is a driver who has won a World Championship, and I think that is what they have hired him for.
For Lewis, it is something he will have to work on though because in 2025, it’s going to be super close and if he is two or three tenths away from Charles, you could end up P6 or P7 on the grid. All of a sudden, your race is completely different. I’m sure it’s weighing on his mind, but I don’t think Lewis needs people to tell him where he needs to improve, he knows within himself where he needs to improve, and you can see the body language.
Do you think Mercedes can challenge for the title in 2025?
It’s very hard to read their situation because I feel like in the last three years, on so many occasions, you hear them say that they have finally understood the issues and could crack it. A good example was the front wing, which unlocked some performance, and we then see a temporary boost. In results this year like Canada, Spain or Silverstone, the car looked good and competitive.
But it’s then just gone away again, and they’ve gone back to being the fourth-best team. It’s been the case since these set of regulations came in. On recent form you would have to say they are the fourth-best team.
Are they going to go completely back to the drawing board and do a whole new car for 2025 ahead of the new regulations in 2026? I don’t think so. The 2025 car is going to be an evolution of 2024 so maybe their effort is fully focused on 2026 and getting the best car for the new regulations.
