Lewis Hamilton labelled 'key' to F1 driver market amid doubts over Ferrari future

Former Red Bull and Aston Martin chief engineer Dan Fallows believes movement in the F1 driver market rests on Lewis Hamilton's shoulders this year.

Hamilton endured a challenging maiden season at Ferrari last year and failed to reach the podium across all 24 grands prix.

It marked the first time in his career that the seven-time champion endured an entire season without a top-three finish.

Hamilton's struggles have led to suggestions that he could call time on his F1 venture at the end of the 2026 campaign.

Speaking on the James Allen on F1 podcast, Fallows stated Hamilton strikes him as a character who would not stick around the sport if he does not have competitive machinery under him.

“I was going to go for Lewis Hamilton as being the key to the driver market,” Fallows said when asked about potential driver movement for 2027.

“It’s easy to put him in the same bracket as Fernando Alonso, in that somebody who's clearly still very, very capable, although he did struggle a bit last year.

“He’s somebody who can definitely turn up the performances when he needs to.

“The question for me is, has he got the same desire? Has he got the same will to carry on as long as he possibly can, if he's not in a 100% competitive car?

“Whereas Fernando is driving a lot of other cars, he’s still very keen, he's got his own karting circuit and so on.

“I’m not sure Lewis is that committed to racing as a whole. That might be a horrible slight on the man - he’s extremely committed to F1, there’s no doubt about that.

“But I don't see him as somebody who would necessarily want to carry on just because he loves it. He wants to be competitive, he wants to be in a car that's capable of getting in those race wins.”

Ferrari currently has junior driver Oliver Bearman gaining F1 experience at Haas, with the Briton being viewed as many as the next driver in line to be promoted to Ferrari.

Should Hamilton opt to walk away from F1 this year, Fallows suggested he will make a call early on to give Ferrari time to assess the situation.

“So if he does retire, he'll probably say it quite early on, give Ferrari a chance to bring in a new driver, and I think that will trigger a lot of moves,” he said.

“Ollie Berman is an obvious person to take that place, but there may be others.”