Hamilton claimed his first win in Ferrari colours in Shanghai, converting pole position into victory in Saturday’s sprint race – only his third win of any kind since the start of the 2022 season.

Jeremy Clarkson puzzled by Lewis Hamilton’s ‘hero to zero’ Chinese GP

However, the seven-time World Champion’s weekend took a turn for the worse from that point as he and team-mate Charles Leclerc could only manage fifth and sixth respectively in qualifying for the main race.

The pair went on to collide at the first corner with Leclerc proving faster than his team-mate despite damage to his front wing, prompting Hamilton to advise Ferrari to swap positions over team radio.

Leclerc and Hamilton ultimately finished fifth and sixth respectively on the road, but were later disqualified from the official classification for separate offences.

While Leclerc’s car was found to be underweight, Hamilton’s SF-25 suffered excessive skid block wear.

It marked the second time in the last 18 months that Hamilton has been disqualified for excessive wear to his skid blocks having suffered the same fate at the 2023 United States Grand Prix.

Writing in his column for the Sun newspaper, Clarkson questioned how it was possible for the Ferrari to go from “quick” to “useless” on the same weekend.

He said: “It’s important to everyone in Formula 1 that Ferrari does well because all the other teams are businesses, and Ferrari is more than that. It’s the heart and it’s the soul.

“It was crucial then that the team’s new boy, Lewis Hamilton, came out of the traps like he’d been fired from a gun.

“And how good would that be if it happened in China, in front of a crowd that thinks he’s a god.

“And blow me down, it did.

“For the sprint race in Shanghai last weekend, the elder statesman took pole position and then cruised away from the pack to win the race as well.

“What’s interesting, and troubling, is that a few hours later, having created headlines around the world, Lewis could only qualify for the main event in fifth.

“And in the race itself, he was so slow he let his team-mate overtake.

“And then he was disqualified.

“How is that possible? I can understand that a car might be quick at one track and the following weekend, at a different track, be useless.

“But to go from hero to zero at the same track? On the same day?

“It makes no sense.”

Clarkson’s latest comments come just months after he questioned Hamilton’s motivation behind his lucrative switch to Ferrari, accusing the seven-time World Champion of being more of a “superstar” than a racing driver at this stage of his career.

The television presenter posed a theory that Hamilton knows his best days are behind him after three difficult years with Mercedes, claiming the 40-year-old could not bring himself to retire before getting a taste of life at Ferrari.

He said: “What is Lewis now? A driver? Or a superstar?

“What I do know is he’ll have his work cut out to beat his team-mate Charles Leclerc, who speaks Italian, knows the team, doesn’t spend quite so long posing for pictures and, thanks to a single-lap shootout, is regarded by many to be the fastest driver of them all.

“Maybe Lewis is aware of this.

“And maybe he signed for Ferrari for a different reason – he knows he’s past his prime now and he didn’t want to retire having never driven for motorsport’s crown jewel.

“Either way, I wish him well.”