Lewis Hamilton looks ‘lost’ after Saudi Arabia struggles: ‘He doesn’t look comfortable’

BBC F1 pundit Sam Bird has described Lewis Hamilton’s performance at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as “quite ordinary”.

Hamilton struggled for pace at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, finishing over 30 seconds behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

It was Hamilton’s weakest weekend of the year, finishing a disappointing seventh.

Jeddah has been a poor track for Hamilton since 2022, but the seven-time world champion was understandably downbeat after the race.

Hamilton admitted that it could be a challenging season and that there are no signs of turning things around.

“At the moment there is no fix so this is how it's going to be for the rest or the year. It's going to be painful,” Hamilton said.

“In qualifying it's me extracting performance and in the race I tried everything and the car just didn't want to go any quicker.”

Bird, who was part of Mercedes in the early 2010s, gave his view on Hamilton's struggles in Saudi Arabia.

“It’s difficult to hear people say that Lewis Hamilton is lost,” Bird said on the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast. “The fact that he’s won over 100 Formula 1 races, but he doesn’t look comfortable. He really doesn’t look comfortable. He doesn’t sound comfortable.

“There’s nothing positive at the moment coming from him. There’s no glimmers of well, we were good on this stint, and we were good in this phase of the race, it was just all quite ordinary, unfortunately.”

Hamilton needs to do “some homework”

Bird believes Hamilton needs to push for answers when he returns to Maranello to understand his struggles.

“I’m a massive Lewis fan, I’ve supported him for many a year and I’ll say that time and time again and he is world class,” Bird added.

“But, right now, he is not comfortable in that Ferrari and it’s really showing and it’s sticking out especially when you’ve got Charles Leclerc doing drives like today and looking completely at one with the car and dragging it to a podium when Lewis is finishing 30 seconds back.

“I mean, he’s got to be doing some homework now back in Maranello and asking questions. How is Charles extracting miles more out of this car than me? 

“What do I need to do differently? How can I change my driving style? What tools is he using? What setup is he using on the other side of the garage? Because I need to be making some changes.”