Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari honeymoon period is only six months

Amid the rising expectations and emotions of seeing Lewis Hamilton’s first Ferrari race, Former driver Ralf Schumacher has predicted that the British driver will have only 6 months of Honeymoon period and after that, he will have more outside noise coming into him. The seven-time world champion moved to Ferrari earlier this year. Many thought the British driver's career would end in the Mercedes team but he plans to end his career with the Maranello squad. Fans have high expectations and many want Hamilton to win his eighth world championship with Ferrari. 

Ralf gives one strong warning to the former world champion and also points out his performance in the 2024 season. Lewis Hamilton performed well in the main races but his qualification went downhill this year. In his prime, the world champion will set the fastest lap and out-qualify everyone. This season, his biggest weakness was the qualifying sessions. The champion even doubted himself during the Qatar Grand prix where he said “Maybe I’m not quick anymore.”

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Ralf doubts Lewis Hamilton

Schumacher thinks age is the biggest reason for the drop in performance and he even felt the same when he was racing. He said, “Yes, I know that from my own experience. Suddenly you ask yourself why your teammate can drive faster. The film suddenly runs faster as you get older.”

The German said if everything goes well then there is no problem but if things go bad then the pressure will start coming from the outside, especially the Italian media. It feels like people won't keep quiet for more than six months. Ralf Schumacher also remembered his brother Michael Schumacher who was the greatest driver for Ferrari. He added, “Even in Michaels time, they wanted to sack Jean todt when the success took too long. Michael prevented that and it came to a happy end after all. Unfortunately, I doubt that with Lewis. But maybe he’ll be lucky enough for the car to suit him.”

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He points out one big quality his brother had which modern F1 drivers don't have. “The biggest difference is that Michael, among many other qualities, was able to develop a car perfectly for his driving style together with engineers. Lewis can't do that. He’s never been able to do that,” he said.

Lewis Hamilton will turn 40 in January next year. It is too old to be a Formula 1 driver when compared with drivers like Oscar Piastri, Kimi Antonelli, and many other young drivers. But we already have a proven driver Fernando Alonso who is older than lewis, still outqualifying many young drivers and scoring points consistently. So, Hamilton can look at his former rival and teammate as an inspiration if he doubts himself. 

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