F1 CONFIDENTIAL meets BERNIE ECCLESTONE: Why Lewis Hamilton will never win another world title… and could leave Ferrari before his deal even starts

Bernie Ecclestone is dealing with matters at his farm 90 miles from Sao Paulo, or a 25-minute helicopter hop over the city’s vast sprawl from Guarulhos airport.

There are some 600 cows and cattle, 18 horses, six ponies and eight dogs. Koi carp swim in the ponds. There are dozens of chickens and swans. And one wife, Fabiana, usually known to him as Fabi. Plus son, Ace, aged four.

But focus turns to another remarkable creature, namely 39-year-old Lewis Hamilton, the world’s most garlanded driver, who is in a slump. His drive in the wet in Brazil at the weekend was barely believable. He slid about where once he would have been the most surefooted protagonist out there.

Max Verstappen won from 17th on the grid in a startlingly contrasting performance. The disparity prompts the question on many lips: can Lewis, who joins Ferrari next year for £50million a season, win the eighth world title he craves to lift himself on to a pedestal beyond even Michael Schumacher?

‘I believe he won’t,’ said Ecclestone, who turned 94 last week but is showing no signs of decline.

Bernie Ecclestone (right) has claimed that Lewis Hamilton will not win an eighth world championship at Ferrari

Hamilton, who is in a slump after the most recent Grand Prix in Brazil, will make the move for next year

Ecclestone described Ferrari’s capture of Hamilton as ‘an ego thing’ due to the stature of the current Mercedes man

‘I don’t think it will be easy for Lewis. Especially in that team. They will back Charles Leclerc. He’s quick and has grown up there. They won’t dump him for anyone.

‘However, from Lewis’ point of view it may not have been a mistake to join Ferrari. He couldn’t exist any longer at Mercedes. Either he’s given up with them or they have given up on him.

‘They wouldn’t do much to keep him, so he is better off going.’

Should Hamilton do the incredible and turn his back on Maranello before he even gets there?

‘He would have to walk away from a lot financially,’ said Ecclestone. ‘It is a big deal he has got, though I suspect the bonus clauses written into his contract are there to make him feel good rather than reality.

‘For John Elkann, the guy who runs it, it was a big ego thing. He thought he had captured the best guy the world had ever seen. When he signed him there was nothing to indicate he was wrong in that assessment. Whether he is still happy with that is another story. Only time will tell.

‘If Lewis is fading, which I don’t like to see, he should go away and do something else, and do a good job at it.

‘He’s now one of the older generation – and didn’t he say he wanted to hear less from them?’

Hamilton could find it difficult to oust current Ferrari man Charles Leclerc (right) who will be his team-mate next term

Hamilton complained a couple of years ago that the likes of Ecclestone and Sir Jackie Stewart should keep their opinions to themselves

That was a reference to Hamilton complaining a couple of years ago that the likes of Ecclestone and Sir Jackie Stewart should keep their opinions to themselves.

Ecclestone attends only a handful of races a year since handing over the sport to Liberty Media, the American conglomerate, in 2017. He was, however, in Sao Paulo last weekend, when Verstappen all but wrapped up the title with his drive for the ages.

Ecclestone sat down at Interlagos for a friendly chat with Verstappen’s dad Jos, administering some balm on the often-stressful relationship between Verstappen Sr and Red Bull Christian Horner. It did some good.

Ecclestone is delighted by Verstappen’s success. ‘I don’t know if we’ll see another Max,’ he said. ‘Max is a special guy. He’s a racer – in dry or the rain. He is so strong mentally. He always wants to win.’

The greatest ever?

‘I think Alain Prost was as good as there was,’ he said. ‘He could never get any help. From the garage or the pits or over the radio. From the time the flag dropped until it was waved at the end, he was on his own. You have to take all these things into consideration.

‘Jochen Rindt was really talented, a special guy like Max. It’s impossible to pick out one – they are different times – but Max is super-good, 100 per cent.’

Ecclestone sat down at Interlagos for a friendly chat with Max Verstappen’s father, Jos (left)

The former Formula One chief said that world champion in waiting Verstappen (pictured) is ‘a special guy’

A 2008 throwback 

Felipe Massa is part-owner of the outstanding Beefbar restaurant in one of Sao Paulo’s leafier suburbs.

I went there the other night, and who should be on an inside table but Timo Glock, whose Toyota was the car in front of Lewis Hamilton before the Briton made the decisive pass on the closing lap of the 2008 world championship at Interlagos.

So far as I know there was no retaliatory poisoning.

Piquet returns

Spotted in the Sau Paulo paddock, Nelson Piquet. The three-time world champion was banned from F1’s inner-sanctum in 2022 for making racist remarks about Hamilton but he surreptitiously returned to the Red Bull motor home to watch his daughter’s boyfriend, Verstappen, triumph.

Nelson Piquet (left) returned to the Red Bull motor home to watch Verstappen triumph in Brazil

Fresh hope for Sauber

Speaking of Sao Paulo suppers. Sitting at the next table from Mr and Mrs Ecclestone and me the other night was Brazil’s Formula Two leader Gabriel Bortoleto. Bernie and he chatted warmly.

Unconnected, presumably, Bortoleto was this week awarded a seat at Audi-owned Sauber for next year. At 20, he represents fresh hope for the team that are dispensing with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

Bortoleto, who has been released by McLaren, will drive alongside Nico Hulkenberg, a survivor at 37.

Warm applause broke out as we stood up to leave the restaurant. For whom? Mr E or our fellow guests, Christian Horner and Sebastian Vettel? I told them the diners clearly must be F1 Confidential readers.

Formula Two leader Gabriel Bortoleto has been awarded a seat at Audi-owned Sauber for next year

Can he see clearly? 

A reader writes in with a theory to explain Hamilton’s strangely faltering performance in rainy Sao Paulo.

The letter is private, so I shan’t name the correspondent, but the gist of his argument is worth repeating. It is that in the dim light, Lewis’s 39-year-old eyes were to blame.

He cites the lens muscle of the eye losing its elasticity and not focusing fast enough, affecting the likes of downhill skiers and racing drivers. This, the argument goes, impacts braking distances and perceptions of cornering.

I shall seek further optometric advice and report back.

Safety first

One ludicrous aspect of last Sunday’s race. A safety car was deployed for no other reason than it was raining, admittedly fairly hard. At the time only five cars were on wet tyres; the rest on intermediates.

So, it was too wet to race but not wet enough for the most extreme rubber? Work that one out.

One reader theorises that Hamilton’s unusual struggles in Sao Paulo, citing his 39-year-old eyes as the issue

British hero James Hunt drove one of the greatest wet races ever when he drove to glory in the rain-lashed foothills of Mount Fuji in 1976

An ode to an icon 

Plenty of talk about Schumacher, Senna and Hamilton in finding parallels with Verstappen’s stupendous drive. All are fitting comparisons.

But a word for a British hero who for a brief but dazzling period was the finest driver of the day. In 1976, in conditions so bad Niki Lauda gave up a world-title shot fearing that it would be ‘insanity’ to continue, James Hunt drove to glory in the rain-lashed foothills of Mount Fuji.

We salute James, dead at 45. He would now be 77, but he was not necessarily suited to a long life. His memory, and deeds of 1976, live on.