Five-podium F1 driver ‘no longer believes in himself’ after what Tom Coronel heard

The 2024 Formula 1 season saw new stars emerge and others fade as Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the title and Tom Coronel watched a racer lose their self-belief.

It was arguably the best Formula 1 season since 2012, outside of the titanic fight for the title Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton produced in 2021. Seven drivers from four teams celebrated earning Grand Prix wins in the 2024 campaign and all seven of those even got multiple wins.

Verstappen won the most often with the Red Bull star taking nine Grand Prix victories in F1’s record-breaking 24-round season, ahead of four-time winner Lando Norris who won his first Grand Prix in Miami, three-time winner Charles Leclerc and four drivers who won two races.

Tom Coronel feels Lewis Hamilton ‘no longer believes in himself’ after Mercedes’ woes

Hamilton was one of the four F1 drivers who won two Grand Prix in the 2024 season in what was also his last year as a Mercedes driver. The Briton has walked out of the Brackley factory for the last time ahead of Hamilton joining Ferrari in 2025 to partner Leclerc at the Scuderia.

It was not the farewell tour that the 39-year-old, who turns 40 on January 7, wanted when it was confirmed in February that Hamilton used the escape clause in his Mercedes contract to agree a move to Maranello. This year marked the Briton’s worst season in Formula 1 to date.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari in 2025

Never before had Hamilton finished a year as low as seventh in the F1 drivers’ championship before 2024, even after he won two Grand Prix and also made five podiums. How the Briton reacted to his disappointing season has even left Coronel questioning Hamilton’s self-belief.

“What happened to him? I have no idea!” Coronel told Formule1. “I was very excited about his move to Ferrari before the season but I became less enthusiastic about him during the season. I saw a Hamilton who no longer believes in himself.

“When I hear him talk, I think, ‘Where is the fire, where is that boxing glove?’ I would say, ‘Put on that red suit as soon as possible because I want to see you shine one more time’.”

Lewis Hamilton will be desperate to bounce back once a Ferrari driver

Even Red Bull team principal Christian Horner feels Hamilton has been ‘very flat’. He went as far as to suggest the Briton has seemed deflated for the last three years, as well, and that his bond with Mercedes had become ‘a little stale’. So, Hamilton can change the story at Ferrari.

It will not be long before the Stevenage-born pilot knows what it is like to drive for the pride of Italy, either. Hamilton will test for Ferrari at Fiorano in January in an older car to get up to speed with his mechanics ahead of driving a non-Mercedes-engined F1 car for the first time.

Hamilton will be desperate to hit the ground running with Ferrari, who enjoyed a better year in 2024 than Mercedes by fighting McLaren for the constructors’ title right down to the wire in Abu Dhabi. The Scuderia fell 14 points shy while Mercedes came in fourth, 198 points shy.