Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes that Ferrari are 'not listening' to Lewis Hamilton's complaints and suggestions, resulting in turmoil between driver and team.
Hamilton has struggled to find his feet at the Maranello-based outfit so far this season, trailing his teammate Charles Leclerc in the Drivers' Standings by a large margin of 42 points.
Further comparisons between the Ferrari pair put the Briton in an even worse light; Hamilton has failed to finish on the podium in any of the 14 Grands Prix while Leclerc has five top-three Sunday finishes to his name.
Apart from a Sprint race win in China and a further Sprint podium at Miami, Hamilton has looked out of sorts behind the wheel of his SF-25. But despite asking for changes to the car and the working of his team, results haven't improved for the seven-time World Champion.
A Lot Of Effort, Little Reward
Matters reached somewhat of a tipping point after the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Hamilton finished in a lowly 12th position. After the race, the Ferrari driver labelled himself as "absolutely useless" and that he should be replaced by another driver.
Speaking to Coin Poker, Montoya believes that Hamilton's choice of words wasn't in the heat moment, but rather a strategic statement to garner Ferrari's notice.
He said: "I think that his statement is not a sign of a meltdown. It’s a way of telling Ferrari, if you’re not going to listen to me, then you might as well take me out and let me go.
"The big thing here is Lewis is not getting the attention he wants and they’re not paying attention enough to him for what he wants and what he’s pushing for.
"He’s putting in a lot of hard work. I think he’s working really hard, but I think Ferrari is very structured in the way it does things. This is our way and accept it. But Lewis is going, ‘Your way doesn’t win!’"
Montoya goes on to state that there seems to be signs of a rift between Hamilton and the wider team, with Ferrari unwilling to cede to the driver's demands for change.
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He continued: "I think there’s an internal fight with people saying Ferrari needs to listen to Lewis and ‘we need to change our ways.’
"That is really, really hard because there is a lot of tradition in Ferrari and a lot of politics in Ferrari. And I think Lewis is more used to Mercedes’ outlook which is,’ What do we need to do to win?’ It’s not about politics; it’s about results at Mercedes," Montoya added.
A Winning Move, or a Marketing Move?
Hamilton believes he has the experience to turn Ferrari into a winning team once again. They haven't won a Championship since Kimi Raikkonen won the Drivers' crown all the way back in 2007.
However, Montoya believes that Ferrari's decision to bring the veteran driver to their team was all to do with marketing.
He posited: "I think what my point of view of what he is saying is that Ferrari are not really paying attention to him and they just want him there for his name.
"I think he’s pushing and maybe people are getting annoyed at how hard he’s pushing and maybe getting tired of what they see as his whining.
"He is trying to move the world by himself. And I think he needs more people in his corner to be able to get more done," concluded the F1 race winner.
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