Lewis Hamilton has been told he must "get out of" his difficult start to life at Ferrari himself by Gerhard Berger, who has implored the British driver to get his car and Charles Leclerc "under control" at the Italian team.
The seven-time F1 drivers' champion joined the Maranello-based squad amid a wave of excitement and anticipation, but the partnership has so far failed to live up to the high initial expectations.
At the last round before the summer shutdown, Hamilton cut a dejected figure, branding himself "absolutely useless" and suggesting the Prancing Horse needed to swap him for a different driver to improve results in the SF-25.
14 rounds into the current season, Hamilton has failed to score a grand prix podium and is at risk of earning the undesired honour of breaking the record for the most races at Ferrari before securing one - only Didier Pironi has more, the Frenchman went 19 grands prix before his first for the Scuderia.
Whilst his deficit to Leclerc is just 42 points at the summer break, Hamilton has been outperformed by the Monegasque driver 10-4 in qualifying and 11-2 in grands prix (it would have been 12-2 had it not been for their double disqualification in China).
Further still, his team-mate has visited the rostrum five times this season, with all of those coming in the past 10 rounds.
In Berger's opinion, it is a difficult situation for Hamilton to acquiesce with, but the 10-time grand prix winner has implored the 40-year-old to grab the bull by the horns.
The former ATS, Arrows, Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren driver insists "status shouldn't play a role" between the two team-mates, and that Hamilton rectifying things rests solely on his own shoulders.
"The whole thing is a bit messed up," Berger told Austrian publication Krone. "Lewis was always used to being number one in a team. Now Leclerc has him under control.
"But this is more of a morality tale; status shouldn't play a role.
"Lewis is struggling with it, though, but he has to get out of it himself, get the car and his teammate under control. It's entirely up to him."
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