Ecclestone: 'Hamilton can no longer be champion'

Hamilton, who transferred to Ferrari at the beginning of the 2025 season, brought together the most successful pilot in F1 history with the most established team. However, this union did not get off to a dream start as expected.

Apart from a sprint victory in China and a third-place finish in Miami, Hamilton has yet to finish on the podium in 11 Grands Prix. And despite having the most pole positions in F1 history, he has yet to start a race from the front row this season.

Hamilton is sixth in the Drivers' Championship with 91 points, 125 points behind leader Oscar Piastri and 28 behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

Speaking to Sky Sports, 94-year-old Ecclestone said: “No.” when asked if Hamilton could win an eighth world championship.

“I think people go through periods in their lives where things go well and things don’t. Hamilton was lucky to be in a period where there was less competition. When he was winning everything, he didn’t have a lot of strong rivals. But now he does.”

“I hope he can still do his job, but whether he can win the championship with Ferrari is a completely different matter.”

Commenting on Vasseur, Ecclestone said: “I hope he completes his job successfully. Because it is wrong to always send someone away and bring someone else in. The new person will not be happy with what the previous person did and will want to change everything. This will lead to problems with constant change at the top.”

Vasseur replaces Mattia Binotto in 2023, making him Ferrari's fifth team boss replacement in the last 10 years.

According to Ecclestone, the real problem is deeper: "The problem started there when everything was changed. It was a structure where everyone was responsible but no one was really showing leadership. There really needs to be one person who decides what is going to happen and how it is going to happen. In fact, that person should be Luca di Montezemolo."

However, it looks like Ecclestone won't get his wish, as Luca di Montezemolo recently joined the board of McLaren Group Holdings Limited.