Lewis Hamilton declared 'punch-drunk' by Ferrari F1 challenges

13-time F1 race winner David Coulthard believes Lewis Hamilton is “punch drunk” amid his challenging start to life at Ferrari.

Hamilton joined the Italian squad this season following a highly successful stint at Mercedes that spanned 12 years.

The seven-time champion sought a new challenge while also realising a dream of racing for the historic Ferrari team - however, it has not been a smooth start for the pairing.

While Hamilton has enjoyed success at the two sprint races held this year, he has had little success in the nine grands prix staged so far.

The event in Spain marked another challenging event for Hamilton, who detailed it was the “worst experience” with car balance he has ever had.

Despite out-pacing team-mate Charles Leclerc during qualifying, Hamilton was instructed to move aside for the Monegasque earlier on in the race when he began to struggle.

“Whether Lewis likes it or not, the team in the situation they are right now, if the shoe is on the other foot, they've got to release the faster car and then sort it out later at the grand prix,” Coulthard told Channel 4.

“In this case, I think Lewis came into the race, he was not delivering the pace at the beginning.”

Coulthard highlighted the Spanish event was not all negative for Hamilton, but acknowledged the Briton is likely surprised by how difficult the adjustment to Ferrari has been.

“There was an area in the middle of the grand prix where he was actually matching Charles and looking like he was finding some comfort there,” he said.

“So there are some reasons to be positive for Lewis.

“But right now, I think he's a little bit punch drunk with the difficulties of getting up to speed with Ferrari.”