Jock Clear claims Hamilton immediately winning title with Ferrari demeans F1

Hamilton had a nightmare start to his career at Ferrari, despite a promising start after winning the Sprint Race over the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

Aside from that, the seven-time Formula 1 Champion had to go through the ignominy of going through a full season without visiting the podium once, let alone winning a race.

Ferrari definitely shoulders part of the blame for the sh!tbox they put at Hamilton's disposal, the SF-25, but Charles Leclerc managed to do a better job and finish on the podium seven times.

In short, the start of the Hamilton/Ferrari story was nothing short of a disaster, with speculation now surrounding the Briton's future.

But Clear, whose last position at Ferrari was as the head of the driver academy, has urged for patience when discussing the situation of Hamilton at Ferrari.

He said: "I remind people that when Michael [Schumacher] went to Ferrari, it took the team five years before he won anything.

"It doesn't happen overnight, and I said to a few people, sort of middle of the season, I know Lewis really had a tough time last year dealing with how difficult the challenge was.

"It's reassuring to remind people how difficult F1 is," he went on. "If Lewis arrived and just won an eighth championship, it sort of demeans or belittles the sport somewhat.

"You look at Carlos [Sainz] at Williams; after 5 races, people were like, 'Oh, what's happened? I thought he was going to blow Alex Albon away'.

"Look at him by the end of the year. It doesn't happen overnight," he pointed out, referring to how the Spaniard managed to bounce back and deliver two podiums for Williams.

Clear still believes Hamilton can crack it at Ferrari and that he knows what he needs to do to succeed.

"I think part of that frustration for Lewis is probably that he knows that," he said. "But, coming back to the spotlight that Ferrari was under, he just needs time. Lewis is not going to give up just because 2025 was tough. He foresaw it being very tough.

"Hamilton will come back stronger and harder next year, work on the development, and do everything he can do to see the project through," Clear concluded. (Source: CasinoHawks)