Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur defended Sir Lewis Hamilton after his poor performance at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, saying criticism of the Formula 1 legend is ‘f***ing bulls***’.

Hamilton started and finished seventh in Jeddah on Sunday, crossing the line 39 seconds behind winner and new championship leader Oscar Piastri.

But while the seven-time world champion couldn’t get to grips with his SF-25 car, teammate Charles Leclerc put in a brilliant drive to finish third.

Hamilton completed his much anticipated move to Ferrari over the winter break but aside from winning the China sprint race, the Brit looks way off the pace and sits seventh in the standings after five rounds.

‘There wasn’t one second [where I felt comfortable],’ the 40-year-old told Sky Sports following the race in Saudi, before making a worrying prediction.

‘Clearly the car is capable of being P3, so… Charles did a great job today, so I can’t blame the car.

‘I think I’ll struggle also in Miami. I don’t know how much longer I’ll struggle for but it’s definitely painful. At the moment there’s no fix. So… this is how it’s going to be for the rest of the year. It’s going to be painful.’

Hamilton joined Ferrari from Mercedes with the hope of winning a record-breaking eighth championship but more often than not he has looked a shadow of himself since the major shake-up of the regulations in 2022.

However, when asked why his star driver’s performances had ‘dramatically’ dropped, Scuderia team principal Vasseur launched a passionate defence.

‘Dramatically?! We did five races so far, I know that you won’t have the big headlines tomorrow that Fred said this… but this is f***ing bulls***,’ the Frenchman, who previously managed Hamilton prior to his F1 debut two decades ago, responded.

‘At the end of the day we are in competition, you have ups and downs, when we have ups, we are not world champion. When we are down, we are not nowhere.

‘I will be 2000 per cent behind him and I will give him support here and we will start from tomorrow morning to try to find solutions. But honestly I am not too worried.

‘If you have a look at what he did in China or what he did in the race in Bahrain last week or even in the first part of the session this weekend, the potential is there for sure.

‘It’s not a transitional [year], but for sure he’s down because when you finish the race in seventh and your team-mate is on the podium, honestly I take it as positive that Lewis is down because if he was happy with this it wouldn’t be normal.’

While Hamilton has predicted he’ll struggle at the next race, he does at least have a couple of weeks to rest and recuperate before the Miami Grand Prix on May 4.

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

MORE: Lewis Hamilton snubs FIA President in awkward exchange after Bahrain Grand Prix

MORE: Why Max Verstappen and George Russell are missing from Bahrain Grand Prix practice

MORE: Trump says ‘it’s going very well’ as his tariffs wipe $2,000,000,000,000 off stock market