Montoya: Hamilton is more hungry right now than he’s ever been

Montoya suggests the Italian team has built the SF-24 too much around Charles Leclerc’s preferences while neglecting the needs of Lewis Hamilton, who continues to struggle to adapt despite his hunger to shine for Ferrari.

The Colombian seven-time Grand Prix winner observed that although Hamilton looked "pretty competitive" in Canada for the first time since China, any promise was undermined by damage early in the race: "Lewis is supposed to have damaged it on lap 10 or something when he hit an animal and damaged the car. And despite that, he finished only 20 seconds behind Leclerc. If the damage cost him, say two or three tenths of a second a lap, it means he was right there."

Speaking to the media team at CasinoHawks, Montoya pointed out that Leclerc has effectively led Ferrari development since 2019, meaning the current car is tailored to his style. "It’s a car that is difficult to drive," he said, adding that Hamilton is "not comfortable" in it.

"The only guy driving it is Charles. When Charles is good, he’s very good. But when he misses it, it’s a big miss. So, if Ferrari says we need the car to be more drivable, it is going to help Charles as well as Lewis."

Montoya interpreted Frédéric Vasseur’s recent comments about "only one thing not changing" at Ferrari as an admission that the team had done little to accommodate Hamilton’s arrival.

The Colombian continued: "The more they focus the car on Lewis, the better they’re going to run as a team. That’s not saying they shouldn’t pay attention to Charles, but Charles has been leading that team for the last seven years."

Montoya was also critical of Ferrari’s apparent reluctance to modernise internal processes after bringing in Hamilton. "I had a conversation with somebody there and they said: The only thing we did was bring Lewis. We didn’t change anything else. So why, if the process is the same, if everything we’re doing is the same, why are the results going to be different?"

The former Williams and McLaren f1 driver said Leclerc has become used to a difficult car after years within the team. "Charles went to Ferrari so young, and he was told this is the way the car is supposed to feel, this is what we do, and this is the culture, and this is the mentality. He grew up with that. When you grow up with that mentality of a rubbish car to drive, it becomes normal.

"I think Hamilton is more hungry right now than he’s ever been to prove everybody wrong. But I think if 2026 goes bad, he might start going: I can’t be bothered," Montoya added, suggesting Hamilton is actively pushing Ferrari, whether they like it or not.

"I do think he needs to grill them and for them to be uncomfortable, the engineers, whether they like it or not, " ventured Montoya, who warned that engineers may take Hamilton’s feedback the wrong way. "The engineers need to understand that Lewis is not trying to be a dick to them, but trying to make the car better. That’s really hard. And you need to learn as an engineer and as a driver not to take shit personally."

According to Montoya, Hamilton is not questioning their intelligence but their decision-making. "At the end of the day, they’re both after the same thing. Lewis is not questioning whether the engineer is really smart or not, but he’s questioning whether they’re making enough decisions and the right decisions. They need to leave their ego at home and go to work."

On Hamilton’s move away from Mercedes after two decades, Montoya believes it was unavoidable; he explained: "Lewis had no choice but to leave, because they were only offering him a one-year deal. It’s a little bit like what happened with Fernando and Alpine. Alpine wanted him to renew for a year only and Aston offered whatever he wanted."

As for Ferrari’s challenge in this Hamilton-Leclerc era, Montoya concluded: "It isn’t just making a faster car. It’s building one that both drivers can drive and building a team culture that listens, adapts, and evolves."