David Croft criticised Lewis Hamilton’s performance in the previous Formula 1 rounds after making ‘careless’ mistakes and picking up penalties.
Hamilton’s move to Ferrari came with incredibly high expectations from fans, media, and the team alike. However, his first season in red was far from perfect.
It was struggles from lights out in Australia to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi and left questions around whether Hamilton’s career was heading to retirement.
Despite the difficult first season with Ferrari, 2026 and the new regulations brought with them a new opportunity for the team and the seven-time World Champion.
Hamilton currently sits second in the Drivers’ Standings with 50 points separating him from Kimi Antonelli in the championship lead.
After a strong charge in the first half of the season, which had Hamilton looking like a potential championship contender, his momentum has struggled in the most recent rounds.
A slew of penalties in Hungary
At the Hungarian GP, Hamilton finished fifth after picking up two separate penalties across the weekend that prevented him from starting the race second and finishing it fourth.
The Sky Sports presenter, David Croft, pointed out that Hamilton had made a string of ‘careless mistakes’.
“His second stint wasn’t particularly good. And I wonder if that was because he was brought out behind the Racing Bulls and that affected his tyres.” He said on the Sky Sports F1 Show.
“But it went from bad to worse. And then Lewis made it even worse with another careless mistake. We shouldn’t look in isolation at the Ferrari strategy. Lewis is making careless mistakes now.”
Hungary wasn’t the first weekend the Brit has picked up a penalty.
He took a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane in Monaco, a five-second penalty at Silverstone for moving before the start signal, a five-second penalty at Spa for causing a collision with George Russell, a three-place grid penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri during qualifying and a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane in Hungary.
Ferrari took responsibility for the Hungary three-place grid penalty, but Croft wasn’t able to let him off the hook that easily.
“He still should have been watching in his mirrors,” Croft continued. “I’m sorry. He was the first driver to start a lap. Therefore, he should have known that other drivers would have been starting a lap as he was finishing.”
Croft did compliment the seven-time World Champion, but urged that the Ferrari driver needs to be more careful if he wants to be considered as a serious contender for the championship.
“You can’t throw away good positions by making these sorts of mistakes. I don’t want to go too hard on Lewis. I think he’s the greatest of all time, but these are not mistakes that a driver of his ability and experience should be making.”
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