Lewis Hamilton F1 title bid dead unless Ferrari make important change | F1 | Sport

Ferrari have been told they need to throw everything they have at Lewis Hamilton‘s title bid if they have any chance of stopping Mercedes. The Silver Arrows won each of the first six Grands Prix of the year and it was widely assumed that George Russell was the only one who had a chance of stopping teenage team-mate Kimi Antonelli who was on a roll with five consecutive wins.

But in Barcelona last weekend, Hamilton found pace in the Grand Prix that the two Mercedes drivers simply couldn’t match. Ferrari‘s upgrades clearly worked in the Spanish sunshine and the seven-time world champion took full advantage to secure his first win for the Scuderia and, after Antonelli’s electrical shutdown in the latter stages, move to 41 points behind the 19-year-old.

Hamilton is in top form for the first time since joining Ferrari, his maiden Grand Prix win for the Italians coming after consecutive second-place finishes in Canada and Monaco. In contrast, it has been a wretched period for his team-mate Charles Leclerc, who has failed to finish each of his last two races.

And his problems started before that, as he was struggling with an issue on his brakes in Canada. He still left Montreal with 16 points to show for his efforts that weekend, but he blamed his brakes for crashing out of his home race in Monaco earlier this month and, even though he changed his system to more closely match Hamilton’s, there was still no joy to be had in Barcelona where he crashed out fo qualifying and then suffered a race-ending power steering loss on Sunday.

Thurty points separate the two Ferrari drivers and Jacques Villeneuve think it is time for Ferrari to do what he feels Mercedes cannot yet commit to, and prioritise Hamilton’s title chances. “Lewis knows how to win, and he knows what it takes. And if he gets a sniff of it, there won’t be any quarters,” the 1997 world champion said.

“I think that’s where he can make the difference. Mercedes right now are not in a position to be even able or allowed to choose a driver over another. Ferrari is because Ferrari has to focus on Lewis if they want a small chance of winning, so the decision is easy to make because Leclerc is quite far back [in the championship].”

Hamilton suffered a difficult first season with Ferrari while the general feeling was that Leclerc, who has been settled in this team since 2020, got the best he could out of a poor car. Now that the roles have reversed, however, Villeneuve is not convinced that the Monegasque will be able to respond.

He said: “Leclerc had time to build the team around him and [Hamilton] didn’t. Bear in mind how he came into Ferrari was after an average season at Sauber and suddenly giving the huge mega contract, like a world champion contract. Maybe too much too soon? He’s never really had to build anything around him. It was given, it was there.

“He was quick and that was plenty because the perception was, ‘That’s a car that cannot win a championship anyway’. You win a few races, you beat your team-mate, which was [Sebastian] Vettel. Everybody was happy. Suddenly, in comes Lewis last year, who’s not having a great season. He’s really having a hard time with the car, the team.

“It takes time to build this around yourself, so Leclerc is quite happy. He’s looking good next to Lewis. But the minute Lewis woke up, the minute Lewis made that car and that team his own and he’s going for it and doesn’t leave any quarter, Leclerc is not prepared for that.”