Lewis Hamilton has ‘glass half-empty’ attitude ahead of Mercedes F1 exit

Lewis Hamilton has adopted a “glass half-empty” attitude to his final races with Mercedes, according to former Haas F1 boss Guenther Steiner.

After scoring just one point across a dismal Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend, seven-time world champion Hamilton was despondent and suggested he would prefer to “take a holiday” than drive his Mercedes for the rest of the 2024 season.

Hamilton, who has just three races left with Mercedes before making a blockbuster switch to Ferrari, could only finish 10th in Brazil while teammate George Russell qualified second and came home fourth.

Analysing Hamilton’s current poor form and mood, former Haas team principal Steiner told the Red Flags podcast: “The car is what it is, it’s not the best car. It’s the fourth best car at the moment on a good day.

“I think Lewis knowing that he is leaving anyway, it’s easier to complain, while George has got all the interest to do whatever he can to get the most out of it to show that he is the leader of the team for the future.

“He has to prove that because he knows that his seat when his contract is up is not 100% safe, so he just tries to do his best and puts everything into it.

“On the other side, Lewis doesn’t like the car, how it drives, knows that in three races he’s not there anymore. It gets at him and I would say he’s not dealing with it very good.”

There have been suggestions that Hamilton’s dip in form could be down to the 39-year-old being frozen out of Mercedes meetings ahead of his move to rivals Ferrari, but the significance of that was downplayed by Steiner.

“Lewis has so much experience he doesn’t need to be in these meetings,” he explained.

“His engineer is in there anyway because he obviously needs to set the car up. Lewis needs to give the feedback of what he wants on the car but the car is what it is. I think Lewis is just at that point where he doesn’t like the car and he complains about it.

“He’s the glass half-empty while George sees the glass half-full, or opportunity. Lewis sees it ‘I’ve got a few more races to go here, there’s not a lot to be won’.”