Former F1 driver David Coulthard has raised a theory that Lewis Hamilton has lost “half a tenth” of performance, resulting in him struggling to dominate teammates.
Throughout his F1 career, Hamilton has dominated the vast majority of his teammates, particularly during the turbo-hybrid era at Mercedes.
However, against George Russell and Charles Leclerc in the ground-effect era, the seven-time world champion has struggled to consistently come out on top in intra-team battles.
Particularly last season at Ferrari, Hamilton was regularly adrift of Leclerc in both qualifying and races, something that happened very rarely during his time at McLaren and Mercedes.
The 41-year-old has made no secret of his dislike for the previous era of F1 cars, yet even then he managed only two race wins in a four-year period.
In Coulthard’s opinion, Hamilton is not as fast as he once was, leaving him unable to assert the same authority over a teammate.
Asked when he realised it was time for him to stop in F1, Coulthard explained on the Up To Speedpodcast: “When the stopwatch stopped talking to me, the lap times weren’t there anymore. And then I realised, yeah, you just lose that edge.
“And I think, in footballing terms — I’m not a big football fan — is it like losing a yard or something? You just can’t get on the ball anymore.
“So I just wonder whether Lewis has lost that little half a tenth that he had over all his teammates in the past.