Apparently sources have sugges ESPN the seven-time world champion won't be offered a contract for 2027. Should that assessment have been made in the first half of the current campaign, few would've found arguments to rebuke it.

Hamilton's 2025 season, when looking purely at the numbers, seems abysmal. 20 Grands Prix, no wins, no podiums, not even a pole position, and, to find his only successes this year, one needs to go all the way back to the Chinese GP where he took pole and the win at the sprint events of the weekend.

And when looking at Leclerc's, it is remarkably easy to come away with the feeling that Hamilton is perhaps not up to the task anymore. However, it is necessary to remember that Hamilton's first season with Ferrari, has also been the worst the Italians have seen in a long time.

As it stands, the Scuderia will finish the season without a single win to their name. In a year that has been completely dominated by McLaren until the halfway mark, Ferrari have only been able to challenge the papaya outfit on one occasion.

In Hungary, Leclerc took pole and looked as the man best poised to come away with the win until an inexplicable loss of pace hit his Ferrari and tore down his hopes to stand atop the highest step of the rostrum. And that's been the story of the season for the Italian team. Whenever there's a chance at success, misfortune always snatches it away.

However, Ferrari's not been up to par either, performance wise. Outside of Hungary, Ferrari has not been in the picture, save for Monaco, perhaps. Which for a team that was a title contender last year seems inexplicable.

In an interview with Auto, motor und sport, team principal Vasseur pointed out the team had sought to address certain mechanical areas in the current car's design that could be carried over into the upcoming season when F1 is set to introduce arguably the most dramatic change in regulations in the history of the sport.

This, coupled with it being Hamilton's first season in red, explains why the team and the seven-time world champion have failed to yield the anticipated results.

Hamilton has had to adjust to completely new engine, braking and software systems, forcing him to adopt a new driving style, whilst also figuring out how to best set up the SF-25, rendering all the tracks he's largely familiar with, as practically new, since the behaviour of his Ferrari machinery is unlike anything he's ever driven in anger before.

Since the Dutch Grand Prix though, Hamilton was able to not only close the gap to teammate Leclerc, but also to beat the Monégasque driver in both qualifying and in race trim.

In Italy, Azerbaijan, Singapore and the U.S., the gap between both sides of the garage had all but disappeared, and last time out in Mexico, Hamilton was a podium contender until the circumstances of the race, like at the start, when despite being ahead of Leclerc at Turn 1, and the Monégasque's unpunished corner-cutting, he still remained a podium contender.

Then came a much debated 10 seconds time penalty that ultimately removed him from the equation. But still the 40-year-old executed a recovery drive that saw him cross the finish line in a valuable P8, which along with Leclerc's second place helped Ferrari regain P2 in the Constructors' ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull Racing, confirming the pace, the grit and the desire to win were all still there.

Come 2026, the British super talent, having successfully completed the acclimatisation process already this year, will be more than ready to take on his rivals, and should Ferrari's machinery be a championship contender, then Hamilton will naturally be one of, if not the most dangerous driver out there.

To speak about leaving him without a seat for 2027, when 2026 hasn't even started yet, is ludicrous, and it might be equated to the conspiracy theories that have put team principal Vasseur at risk of losing his job on various occasions throughout the current campaign, which have time and time again been disproven by Ferrari's leadership themselves.

Hamilton still stands as the most successful champion the sport has ever seen, and given how quickly he's been able to match Leclerc's rapid pace, to doubt his capabilities and to pull the plug on what's been the most high-profile team/driver collaboration in the modern era of the sport would be madness, given the potential it holds, which to this day remains very much untapped.

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