Was Lewis Hamilton sending a message to Ferrari with Hungarian GP comments?

Were Lewis Hamilton’s harsh comments in the media pen during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend actually a “meltdown,” or was it his way of sending Scuderia Ferrari a message?

Former F1 driver turned pundit Juan Pablo Montoya is convinced it’s the latter.

Lewis Hamilton’s Hungarian Grand Prix “message”

After qualifying 12th for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton seemed utterly dejected.

Over the radio, he lamented, “every time! Every time!” to his team when he was informed that he would not be making it out of Q2.

Heading to the media pen shortly after, Sky Sports asked Hamilton to elaborate on what he meant, to which the driver replied, “It’s me, every time.

“I’m useless, absolutely useless.”

Hamilton pointed to teammate Charles Leclerc, who went on to qualify at the sharp end of the starting grid, as proof.

“The team have no problem; you’ve seen the car’s on pole,” Hamilton said.

“So they probably need to change the driver.”

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Much has been made of those quotes, with many assuming that they imply that Hamilton is dejected or giving up after the first half of his inaugural season with the Scuderia has failed to produce results. For them, it’s a statement of defeat.

But former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya has a very different interpretation.

“It’s a way of telling Ferrari, if you’re not going to listen to me, then you might as well take me out and let me go,” Montoya told a betting website.

“The big thing here is Lewis is not getting the attention he wants and they’re not paying attention enough to him for what he wants and what he’s pushing for.”

For Montoya, he believes that Hamilton is “working really hard,” but the particular structure of the legacy team has made integrating a challenge.

“I think Ferrari is very structured in the way it does things,” Montoya said. “‘This is our way and accept it.’

“But Lewis is going, ‘Your way doesn’t win!’

“I think there’s an internal fight with people saying Ferrari needs to listen to Lewis and ‘we need to change our ways.’”

The Italian team has been competing in F1 since its inaugural season, back when Enzo Ferrari was at the helm. Under Il Commendatore‘s reign, Ferrari established itself as a deeply passionate but often highly political environment. That’s something Montoya notes.

“That is really, really hard because there is a lot of tradition in Ferrari and a lot of politics in Ferrari,” the Colombian said.

“And I think Lewis is more used to Mercedes’ outlook which is, ‘What do we need to do to win?’ It’s not about politics; it’s about results at Mercedes.”

The change in operating standards has likely thrown Hamilton for a loop. However, it’s not enough for him to throw in the towel just yet, Montoya argues.

He said of Hamilton’s struggle: “It’s a wakeup call.

“In the last couple of years when the Mercedes stopped being really good, I think he backed off in qualifying because there was no need. And I think to get it back is really difficult.”

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