Bernie Ecclestone’s advice has split opinion.

Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari should cast aside Bernie Ecclestone’s advice, according to Express Sport readers. The ex-F1 supremo, 94, advised the seven-time world champion to retire from the sport, and believes that Isack Hadjar or Garbiel Bortoleto could replace him. Hamilton has struggled since swapping Mercedes for Ferrari, and heads into the summer break trailing team-mate Charles Leclerc by 42 points in the Drivers’ Championship standings.

He is still hunting for his first podium in the famous red overalls, and after challenging weekends in Belgium and Hungary, his confidence was at rock bottom. This prompted Ecclestone to give some advice to the sport’s most decorated driver. “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 in retirement. I think he should have done it a while ago.

“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.’”

Asked who should replace Hamilton, Ecclestone continued: “If I could steal him, I’d take Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls. He has done super well in his first year and is a great guy. I also rate our friend from Brazil (Gabriel Bortoleto). He is talented. Both of them are sensible, too.”

According to Express Sport readers, though, Ecclestone’s advice is not worth following. In a survey of 2,900 voters, 52 per cent believed that Hamilton should ignore the 94-year-old’s comments and continue with his F1 career, while 48 per cent suggested the time was right to consider retirement.

Readers also disagreed with Ecclestone’s replacement suggestions. While 8 per cent of readers fancied Bortoleto as a successor and 19 per cent backed Hadjar, the most popular candidate with Haas rookie Oliver Bearman, who accumulated 26 per cent of the vote, one more than Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.

Bearman is a product of the Ferrari driver academy and still has ties to the Scuderia, despite driving in F1 for Haas. The 20-year-old Brit is viewed as a long-term replacement for Hamilton and could share a similar career path to George Russell, who completed three years with Williams before stepping into to Mercedes’ line-up.