Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari start “not the fairytale we were hoping for” says Jamie Chadwick

Three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick and former Aston Martin Formula 1 strategist Bernie Collins have reflected on Lewis Hamilton's troublesome weekend in Budapest, claiming that his interviews and team radio messages were a "hard listen".

Hamilton caught the attention of the F1 paddock and fans over the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend for claiming he was "useless" and that Ferrari should consider another driver following qualifying. After finishing the race at the Hungaroring in 12th - the same position that he started in - he explained that there were some things happening in the background before he added, "I look forward to coming back. Hopefully, I'll be back."

Chadwick and Collins discussed the seven-time champion's debut season with Ferrari so far during the Sky Sports F1 podcast.

"It's definitely not the fairytale we're all hoping for, that's for sure," Chadwick explained. 

"I think there's a few ways to look at it. It's been a really tough few races for Lewis, and also in that race, like lap seven, he's been told to lift more to manage overheating. And as a driver, you're already having a tough weekend, and you're told you can't even attack to try and make up for it. So he just had a tough, tough weekend, and it's compounded, I think, issues that we've seen from earlier in the year.

"I think part of the reason he's so down on himself and so frustrated - I think it was Fred Vasseur who said it's out of frustration rather than anything else - is because he's gone there to try and win an eighth world title. He's gone there because he wants to be winning the world title, winning races week in, week out. And even if you just have one or two bad weekends, that's frustrating when you know what he knows - what he's there to try and achieve.

"So, it's very hard listening, to be honest. I really hope the summer break gives an opportunity for not just him but Ferrari to reflect and find a way out of it, because it's not nice for anyone to hear that. But particularly from a driving point of view, it's a really hard listen."

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

Collins explained the effect of Hamilton's comments on his team: "Yeah, I think it's probably more Lewis's own team - the people he has around him, to try and lift him up a little bit, try and get the best out of him, try and figure out where he's losing performance in, let's say, qualifying. I think his race was probably stronger - definitely his final stint was stronger. So it's just about trying to get the best out of him."

The former Aston Martin strategist noted two challenges which the Maranello outfit is currently facing.

"Ferrari has two challenges. One being the car performance and the issues like we've seen with Charles Leclerc, and two being how do they get the most out of their second driver - or Lewis Hamilton, let's not call him the second driver, that's probably unfair - but how do they get the most out of Lewis Hamilton?" she continued.

"And where is it going wrong? What is it about his driving style? What is it about his set-up? What is it about what's happening in qualifying or his outlaps? What specific thing is it that's not allowing him to get the most out of that car?"