Lewis Hamilton may think 'career is over' after difficult Formula 1 season with Mercedes, says Jenson Button

Jenson Button has questioned whether Lewis Hamilton feels his “career is over” after a difficult start to the season with Mercedes. The seven-time champion has been outperformed by team-mate George Russell over the opening seven races of the campaign. Ad/> The 37-year-old is sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, 34 points behind Russell and 75 behind leader Max Verstappen.

Azerbaijani Grand PrixRussell not expecting Mercedes to 'transform' in Baku06/06/2022 AT 11:03 Hamilton’s best results this season have been third place in Bahrain and fourth in Australia. “I think the big shift for Lewis is he’s driving a car that isn’t competitive in his world," Hamilton’s former McLaren team-mate Button told The Chris Evans Show on Virgin Radio. “He’s been fighting for the World Championship since 2014 and his team-mate has come, young upstart George Russell, and he’s been competitive.

Because George is driving a car that’s actually better than he was used to [at Williams], it’s given him confidence and he can push a bit harder. Russell not expecting Mercedes to 'transform' in Baku Red Bull: No issue with Perez-Verstappen incident “Whereas Lewis has probably not got so much confidence in the car to be able to extract the maximum out of it. And when you’ve had a few bad races, it hurts mentally.

This is a mental sport. It’s not just physical. “Lewis, as we all know, is one of the best in the world, if not the best in the world at driving a Formula 1 car.

He will be competitive again – if he wants to be. That’s the thing. Maybe he thinks his career is over and he wants to go and do something else.