Lewis Hamilton dropped the coldest quote when explaining how he will save Ferrari's season with thinly-veiled dig at two drivers

Lewis Hamilton remained defiant when he was asked how he could turn around Ferrari's season as he issued a thinly-veiled dig at two legendary drivers.

The seven-time world champion has endured a difficult debut year with Ferrari since making the switch from Mercedes.

After 12 races, Hamilton is yet to stand on the podium, with his only great result being an early-season sprint race victory in China.

It has led many commentators to speculate that the 40-year-old may no longer be capable of challenging for a record-breaking eighth title.

He trails his teammate Charles Leclerc by 16 points in the Drivers Championship, while his Ferrari team have been nowhere near the pace of this season's frontrunners McLaren.

But that has not dampened Hamilton's optimism ahead of this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton and his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc. (Image: Mark Sutton - Formula 1 / Contributor via Getty)

“I see a huge amount of potential within this team,” said Hamilton. “The passion: nothing comes close to that.

“But it’s a huge organisation, and there are a lot of moving parts. And not all of them are firing on all the cylinders that they need to be. That’s ultimately why the team has not had the success that I think it deserves.

“So I feel that it’s my job to challenge absolutely every area, to challenge everybody in the team. Particularly the guys that are at the top who are making the decisions.

“If you look at the team over the last 20 years, they’ve had amazing drivers: Fernando [Alonso], Sebastian [Vettel] – world champions. However, they didn’t win a world championship [at Ferrari].

“And for me, I refuse for that to be the case with me.”

Fernando Alonso, who won back-to-back titles at Renault in 2005 and 2006, drove for Ferrari for four years from 2010 but finished as runner-up in three seasons.

Sebastian Vettel, who won four consecutive titles from 2010 to 2013 at Red Bull, also fell short in the Ferrari.

In both 2017 and 2018, he was unable to defeat Hamilton in a Mercedes.

How did fans react to Lewis Hamilton's claim?

Given Hamilton's current struggles, it was certainly a bold move to issue such an ambitious statement.

And some users on Reddit were highly sceptical.

@eurochacha wrote: "The optimism of youth."

@chuteboxehero added: "So Lewis is in phase 2 of the five stages of grief. Got it."

@mines_4_diamonds said: "I’ll have what he’s having."

But some Ferrari fans were more encouraged by the statement and believe that the Briton could have a positive impact on the Italian team.

Lewis Hamilton has endured a difficult debut campaign at Ferrari. (Image: Mark Sutton - Formula 1 / Contributor via Getty)

"This is super interesting, looks like he has quite a lot of decision-making power within the team," wrote @steferrari.

"Probably he’s not the fastest driver anymore but he definitely has the charisma (maybe more than anyone else) to bring some deep changes inside Ferrari and leave a mark that will remain even after he retires.

"Perhaps something similar to Michael & Mercedes, hopefully with better immediate results though."

Hamilton will get another opportunity to show he still possesses championship credentials in this weekend's race at Spa-Francorchamps.

Ferrari have brought in an upgrade to their rear suspension for this race weekend.

But when Hamilton was asked about the upgrade, he said that the car felt the same as before.