Former Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer believes Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton are failing to capitalise on Mercedes’ rare vulnerabilities, labelling a string of mistakes as “pretty sloppy”.
Following six grand prix victories in the first half of the season, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli holds a 50-point advantage over the seven-time champion in second with 12 races remaining.
Palmer insists Ferrari has missed crucial opportunities to close that gap. During an episode of the F1 Nation podcast alongside host Tom Clarkson and former IndyCar Series driver James Hinchcliffe, Palmer pointed to Antonelli’s reliability problems at the British Grand Prix as a major opening that the Maranello outfit missed.
“Ferrari have to just keep the pressure on and see what happens. But I’m a little bit disappointed in them in recent races because I think they’ve been given this chance with some reliability woes for Kimi,” Palmer explained.
“The wheel cover stuff at Silverstone was a really lucky strike for Ferrari. They were going to lose that race, and they ended up coming through, taking a big dent out of Kimi’s lead. And then they go and get all these penalties.
“So you’ve got a jump start for Lewis at Silverstone just because he moved his hand too quickly. That’s pretty sloppy. You’ve got him unlatching the pitlane speed limiter a fraction early in Hungary. It’s hard to argue that’s not pretty sloppy. You’ve got the biggest one of all of them probably being the impeding penalty in Hungary. My word, that’s so sloppy from the race engineer at that point and maybe a little bit from Lewis as well.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
“And those three penalties may have cost them some points, obviously, but also a little bit of momentum and a little bit of that pressure on Kimi. So, they have to cut those out.”
He added that Hamilton is “driving brilliantly” but that he may be lacking concentration.
“He’s driving brilliantly. The fact that he’s even matching or ahead of Charles on pace a lot of the time shows what a great turnaround it’s been,” he said.
“It’s really difficult to compare to his glory years at Mercedes; the competition’s so different. The environment is so different. I think we are seeing some of the best that he’s ever done.
“That’s why I have the frustration at the needless penalties because actually his driving level is exceptionally high right now. He’s really risen to these regs and the opportunity that’s there for him.
“But then these mistakes, they’re not to do with skill. That’s the silly thing. It’s kind of a lack of concentration, or I don’t know, attention or something in him and the race engineer. And they’ve just let themselves down.
“If Ferrari wants to win this championship, we mentioned team orders before, and the fact that they would need to maximise every point – they are a long way from doing that in the last few races.”
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