Priestley Proposes Theory Explaining Hamilton's Struggles

Tuesday, 14 January 2025 at 15:42

Former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley pinpoints the reason why he thinks Lewis Hamilton struggled in 2024.

When Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari was announced, it was the biggest F1 news of the decade. Statistically most successful driver and team in F1 history are about to partner in pursuit of a record-breaking eighth driver's title and return of glory to Maranello.

The Italian F1 team had to give up one of its drivers to sign the seven-time world champion, and they decided to replace Carlos Sainz, who later joined Williams Racing.

Hamilton just had to complete the 2024 season before moving to Ferrari, and unfortunately, although he scored two victories, it was his worst season ever in terms of the final result in the Drivers' Championship - P7.

Speaking on the Fuelling Around podcast, Former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley suggested that it is natural for many fans to start asking whether Ferrari made the right move, signing Lewis Hamilton.

"I think fans will look at the decision at Ferrari and they'll say 'Look at Lewis' performances right now, and then look at Carlos' performance right now, they've made a terrible mistake at Ferrari, and they should've stuck with Carlos.'"

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"And to some extent, in terms of the longer performance of Ferrari, Carlos has got a bit more longevity in him than Lewis has. I think we can all agree on that."

"But Lewis' performance this year in the Mercedes has clearly disappeared, and it's clearly disappeared even in comparison to his own team-mate particularly in qualifying. He just cannot match him."

The 40-year-old lost the head-to-head comparison with his teammate George Russell, 6-24 in qualifying and 10-20 in race results (including sprints).

"I've always had this theory about Formula 1 drivers, and I can probably apply it to Daniel Ricciardo in recent times, maybe even Sergio Perez in the Red Bull, which we know is a good car – they're so specific, modern Formula 1 cars, in terms of how they need to be driven."

Both Ricciardo and Perez have proven in the past that they deserved their spot on the grid. However, they started struggling in recent years after 2022 and ultimately got replaced.

Although Lewis Hamilton hasn't struggled as much, Marc Priestley, the seven-time world champion might have similar problems to Perez and Ricciardo.

"Particularly this new generation of cars, is it just a case that a certain type of car's characteristic doesn't suit a particular driver's driving style, and some of them find it hard to adapt to that."