Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has told Ferrari to ‘wake up’ and start working on a deal to sign Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto. The 94-year-old sees the Brazilian prodigy as the perfect replacement for Lewis Hamilton, who he has urged to call time on his motorsport career. Hamilton joined Ferrari to much fanfare over the winter, but on-track results haven’t matched up to the pre-season hopes.

After 14 Grands Prix, the legendary Brit is 42 points behind team-mate Charles Leclerc in the standings and is still waiting for his first podium of the year. Worse still, the atmosphere in the Ferrari camp is heading in the wrong direction. The seven-time world champion was extremely dejected on Saturday at the Hungarian Grand Prix, describing his performance as ‘useless’. After the summer break, he’ll be looking to end a run of back-to-back races without a Q3 appearance.

Bortoleto, meanwhile, is riding the crest of a wave. The Brazilian, who won the Formula Three and Formula Two championships in back-to-back seasons, scored points in three of the last four Grands Prix before the summer break. After a quiet start to life at the top level, he is turning heads.

According to Ecclestone, he is the obvious Hamilton successor. "Bortoleto's good performances in a midfield team like Sauber should really wake Ferrari up now,” he told Swiss news outlet Blick. “The Italians' next driver question has to be resolved with the Brazilian."

Hamilton is contracted to Ferrari through until the end of the 2026 season, and the seven-time world champion has an option to extend his deal for another year beyond then. However, his demeanour in Hungary had pundits and paddock figures debating his future beyond the summer break.

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Ecclestone’s stance is clear: Hamilton should call time on his F1 career sooner rather than later. “Lewis is very talented, was and probably still is,” he told the Daily Mail. “But like a lot of leading sports personalities when they reach the top, there is only one way to go and it’s not a good direction. It’s only down.

“They get tired. Lewis is tired. He’s been doing what he is doing forever. He needs a rest from it for good, a total reset to do something completely different. He may not think it, but he will soon get used to doing other stuff away from motor racing. I think he should have done it a while ago.”

The 94-year-old continued: “The guy is not a cheat, but he would be cheating himself if he goes on. He should stop now. If I were looking after him, I would negotiate with Ferrari immediately and say, ‘If you have someone to replace Lewis, he’ll step aside.’ If I were Lewis, I would say to Ferrari that I wanted to be paid all my contract, in full.”