Briatore doubts Hamilton: 'He will struggle to stay ahead of Leclerc'

From 2025, Lewis Hamilton will drive for Ferrari. Flavio Briatore, former team boss at Benetton and Renault, has spoken about the move. Right now, Briatore doesn't believe Hamilton is strong, nor the Ferrari car.

At the moment, Lewis Hamilton isn't achiving strong results. His Mercedes is currently not fast enough to fight for top positions, but the Briton is also failing to beat his teammate, George Russell. Hamilton finished seventh in Bahrain and ninth in Saudi Arabia, behind Russelll.

Flavio Briatore, who had names like Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso under his belt during his time as team boss, is not impressed by Hamilton. According to him, the 39-year-old will find it very difficult to beat Charles Leclerc at Ferrari. "If he was already driving at Ferrari today, he would do the same as Leclerc, who is a fast driver. The Monegasque is underrated; Hamilton will struggle to stay ahead of him."

Briatore takes another small dig at the seven-time world champion at Rai Sport. "Drivers like Hamilton, when the car is not competitive, don't put much effort into it." So he assumes Hamilton will not be very productive in improving the car.

Briatore does realise that Ferrari's car is simply not good enough at the moment. Still, he also has a good word for Hamilton. "Ferrari may be the second team in the world championship, but it is not a position for Ferrari. They need to improve the car, with these gaps no driver can make the difference."