Lewis Hamilton declared he was working on his ‘masterpiece’ and that he would be the one to decide when it was finished.
That was in 2022, his powers in a bouncing Mercedes neutered. Was age a factor, we wondered then? Now, as his Ferrari swansong has lost its lustre, the question must be asked whether the great artist, aged 40, has mislaid his brushes for all time.
He is not categorical on his fate, either.
Speaking in Miami on Thursday, after a few days in Maranello poring over data and taking to the simulator – as well as eating three pizzas in two days – he offered no guarantees of a quick remedy.
‘I really don’t know,’ he said of finding a cure. ‘We are working hard to shorten the process. But it could take longer, who knows?’
Certainly, results this season are poor and have visibly devastated his confidence. He has offered increasingly wearied and despairing post-race analyses.
There are no signs that Lewis Hamilton will be back to his best any time soon at Ferrari
At 40 years of age, the seven-time champion’s swansong with his new side has lost its lustre
Hamilton admitted he and his team are not close to finding any stark improvements this week
Before leaving Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago, when he finished a sore seventh, compared to team-mate Charles Leclerc’s third, he foretold more misery here in Florida this weekend.
His repetitively moribund comments contrast with the easy-going buoyancy with which he bounced into Maranello a few short months ago. He felt liberated from Mercedes after a torrid three years of decline.
The statistics vis a vis his then team-mate George Russell reveal the slope.
In 2022: qualifying: Hamilton 13, Russell 9; race: Hamilton 9, Russell 11.
In 2023: qualifying: Hamilton 11, Russell 11; race: Hamilton 15, Russell 6.
In 2024: qualifying: Hamilton 5, Russell 19; race: Hamilton 9, Russell 14. There was also his scatty drive in the wet in Brazil last November so unlike the old Lewis that you assumed his stunt double had sneaked into the cockpit.
And this season, Leclerc has outqualified the seven-time world champion four out of five times and beaten him all four times they have finished. A caveat to this is Hamilton’s wonderful pole and tyre-eking win in the sprint in China. It was a flash of hope.
It is a fair assumption that he can still reel off a victory when the chance presents itself – for he is hardly a bad driver overnight. However, alchemy is not as easily within his grasp as in his days of natural supremacy.
The statistics comparing Hamilton and former team-mate George Russell in their years at Mercedes revealed the former’s decline – even before he switched to his seat at Ferrari
His new team-mate, Charles Leclerc (left), has outqualified him four out of five times so far
He has also beaten Hamilton in all four races in which they have reached the chequered flag
As though aware this might be the case, Hamilton once scoffed at the notion he would still be competing into his fifth decade.
‘You won’t see me around then,’ he promised. But when it came to the edge and he looked down the sheer face of retirement, he could not say goodbye to the only vocation he has known.
In and out of motor-racing, greats have ploughed on too long. Muhammad Ali’s last ill-advised fight was a points defeat to a mediocre Trevor Berbick in the Bahamas, four years after his last great act, a 15th-round blitz to defeat the hard-punching Eddie Shavers of Ohio.
Michael Schumacher, effectively sacked by Ferrari at 37, returned to Mercedes after his first ‘retirement’ but was a shadow of his previous self. Only his ruthlessness was as honed as in his title-winning pomp.
Yes, Fernando Alonso is still going at 43. Perhaps he has defied Father Time, but is he really the force he was? Doubtful. Only five races into the season admittedly, but he is out-pointed this season by his Aston Martin garage-mate Lance Stroll, a Berbick kind of Grand Prix performer.
The hope Hamilton must cling on to is that the car – a pale imitation of the machine Ferrari were bullish about before a wheel was turned in anger – is ill-suited to his needs and that this incompatibility is the only problem.
‘The first six months at Mercedes was tough, getting acclimatised to a new car,’ he said on Thursday, as if self-administering reassurance.
‘The engineers are used to setting up the car for a different driver and a different driving style.’
Hamilton has, on the plus side, always demonstrated a super-human ability to bounce back
But he has struggled in a Ferrari, and has pointed to the car not yet being set up to suit him
Hamilton has, on the plus side, always demonstrated a super-human ability to bounce back, channelling his immediate post-competition angst into a positive a couple of weeks of digging deep later. He is tough on himself. It is crucial element of what made him such a relentless champion.
It may transform his fortunes again, yet so far at Ferrari he has finished in the top five just once. His disqualification for running too low to the ground in the Grand Prix in China – a desperate search for speed – has hampered progress.
One close Hamilton observer from his Mercedes days believes things might yet just click and that he will soar again, his confidence restored at a stroke.
That is possible, but for his own sanity you feel the corner must be turned fast. Otherwise, his Ferrari farewell is in danger of turning into a long and painful testimonial too far.
Repeat or regret for Lando?
Back to a happy hunting ground for Lando Norris. It was here at the Hard Rock Stadium that he won at the 110th attempt. It seemed it would liberate him. It did to an extent.
But he needs a victory now more than he did then. He arrives 10 points behind McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, who has won three times since the Englishman drove so decisively to win the opening round in Melbourne.
‘It is round six of 24, although I know I cannot say that forever,’ reasoned Norris, who dismissed the power of momentum.
‘I need to get a move on and to get into gear. I am doing my best. The speed is there and the race pace is there. It is just one thing (qualifying) that I need to tidy up. But I am confident I can get it.’
Lando Norris is returning to where he won his first Grand Prix at the 110th attempt last year
He arrives in Miami 10 points behind team-mate Oscar Piastri (right) in the Championship
Max Verstappen’s rivals will wait to see how becoming a father could impact his performances
Little one, little change
Max Verstappen is a machine. As of the last few hours he is also a father. How will the latter conditions affect the former?
The aphorism is that fatherhood takes a couple of tenths off a driver’s time. Too distracted. Priorities change.
It is a hope his rivals can cling to.
He missed Thursday’s media session, staying with his pregnant girlfriend Kelly Piquet. He is due in the car on Friday after his private jet took off, a sign presumably the baby has landed.
A change in Max’s mindset? I take some convincing of that.
It’s a no for Donald
Latest on Donald J Trump’s intention to visit the Miami GP. Word is he isn’t. And, as we know, his word is his bond.
