Hamilton ignores critics and admits he needs time to deliver for Ferrari
Hamilton also says that he is content with learning about his new surroundings.
Lewis Hamilton admits that he needs sufficient time to be able to settle in at his new home with Ferrari and that he is not putting any thought into the voices of critics and detractors over his performances this season.
Hamilton also says that he is content with learning about his new surroundings and is certain that in the end, it will pay off as he aims to return Ferrari back to competitive racing towards the Driver's and Constructors Championships.
The seven-time Formula One world champion, a record winner of 105 races and title winner with both McLaren and Mercedes, joined Ferrari at the start of the year in a headline-grabbing move.
Ferrari have not won a title of any sort since 2008 and Hamilton's arrival, fans hoped, would lift them back to contention instantly.
Even though the 40-year-old won a sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, he has failed to finish higher than fifth in any of the five races so far.
On the other hand, his French teammate Charles Leclerc was third in Saudi Arabia last month and has consistently finished above him this season.
"When I joined Mercedes, the first six months were tough getting attuned to working with new people," Hamilton told reporters at the Miami Grand Prix pre-race engagements.
"Obviously, the engineers I'm working with now are used to setting up a car for a different driver and a different driving style, and I'm used to driving a car with a different driving style. So it’s a combination of a bunch of different things."
When it was posed to Hamilton that he also took time to settle in at Mercedes and whether he expected it to assume a similar timeline, Hamilton replied: "I really don’t know. I genuinely don’t. We’re working as hard as we can to shorten that, but it could be longer. Who knows?"
Hamilton also took time to respond to comments in the media by television pundits and critics, including former drivers, who have been calling for Ferrari to bin him following his poor start. He simply laughed it off.
"I just don’t really think about it. I try not to really focus on opinions of people that have no insight into actually what is going on. These are insights from individuals that have never been in my position," he said.
"So yeah, I just keep my head down and try to continue to enjoy the work that I do with the people I work with."
The Miami Grand Prix this weekend is the next stop for Formula One drivers and fans as well. The main race will take place Sunday, 4 May 2025.
Hamilton currently lies seventh on the Formula One Championship log with 31 points.
Championship leader, McLaren's Oscar Piastri, has 99 points.