Lewis Hamilton has been accused of only driving at ‘98 per cent’ by former driver Thierry Boutsen.
Hamilton, who will leave Mercedes for Ferrari next year, allowed George Russell to pass at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Boutsen believes that the Hamilton of old would have battled much harder to stay ahead of his Silver Arrows colleague.
“I don’t think he’s moving on from Mercedes. But I see that, with all his experience and his age, it’s a little bit more difficult to give it 100 per cent,” Boutsen said.
“Maybe he’s only driving at 98 per cent. We saw it during the race when he asked whether he should let George past him. A few years back, he would have been fighting like hell to stay ahead of him.
“Now, when it gets worse like this one, he gets in a bad situation and he just gives up and gives Russell a chance to be better than him and to help the team to be better because he feels that he’s not in a position – or not capable – to perform as well, for whatever reason.”
