Lewis Hamilton accused of thinking about Ferrari due to Mercedes W15 struggles

Lewis Hamilton may already be thinking about joining Ferrari after his early difficulties in the Mercedes, David Coulthard thinks.

Hamilton has endured a drab start to 2024, his final F1 season with Mercedes before he jets off to Ferrari next year.

The W15 has been blighted by bouncing issues, restricting Hamilton to seventh at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix then ninth in Saudi Arabia.

“He’s just not been settled with this car. You can tell,” ex-F1 driver Coulthard said on Channel 4.

“George [Russell] is owning the lap time right now.

“You can feel that Lewis is on the back foot.

“What we do know is that if he can find a window of performance then he will deliver.

“But right now? It’s looking like his decision to head off to Ferrari…

“Mentally, he’s already there!”

Hamilton will be 40 when his exciting adventure in the famous red begins in 2025.

He will team with Charles Leclerc in a thrilling pair.

Ferrari president John Elkann told Sky in Saudi Arabia: "I have always said over the years how much Lewis is a great driver, how much he has done for F1.

“He will join Ferrari and this is a sign of how much he believes he can do great things with us.”

Hamilton must battle through one more year, and hope his W15 finds fixes to the major flaws which have been on show so far.

The Sky Sports pundits were split when debating whether Hamilton chose to go to Ferrari because he knew about the 2024 Mercedes’ limitations.

“I don’t actually think so,” Naomi Schiff said. “It seems they came into the season with really high hopes.

“Maybe they didn’t have the outright pace to beat the Red Bulls but, after testing, there was ambition from them that they’d be the best of the rest, maybe with Ferrari. That hasn’t played out yet.”

But Karun Chandhok insisted: “I am going to disagree. I think he did know. What they put out there - the messages of positivity - are one thing. But I think he knew that it’s going to be a tough year.”