Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin star Fernando Alonso are in the later parts of their F1 careers and have had their own share of struggles over the careers. With the 2026 regulations approaching fast, former F1 champion Damon Hill addressed the contrasting form of the two drivers.
Lewis Hamilton made the move to Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season, whereas Fernando Alonso joined Aston Martin after returning to the sport with Alpine. The Briton struggled massively during the 2025 season in the SF25 and was visibly downbeat. Alonso, on the other hand, pushed the AMR25 to results that were beyond the performance of the car.
Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert recently came out on the Stay on Track podcast and discussed driving styles, how the greatest drivers adapt to the different eras of cars, and then pointed out the contrasting forms of Hamilton and Alonso in recent years.
“Fernando still throws some great performances in, like last year he did,” said Johnny Herbert (44:00 onwards)
“He really does, but then you get the sense with, with Fernando there was, there’s a, there’s a part of his career that went missing, you know, and I think he feels he’s still got the fight. He wants to recover something. Whereas I, I wonder whether Lewis has had a belly full, you know, the, the, the post race into, he doesn’t want to be there,” added Damon Hill
Fernando Alonso made his F1 debut over half a decade before Hamilton did, and was a two-time champion when the Briton joined the grid. Lewis Hamilton is now a seven-time F1 champion, whereas the Spaniard still only has the two championships from the 2000s.
The two drivers were teammates for Hamilton’s debut F1 season and had one of the fiercest intra-team rivalries of the last couple of decades. The Briton went on to join Mercedes and won six titles with them, whereas Alonso’s career moves to Ferrari, McLaren, and Alpine didn’t pay off.
Former F1 race winner understands Lewis Hamilton’s frustrations
Since the ground-effect cars were introduced, Lewis Hamilton has struggled massively, more so at Ferrari than he did at Mercedes. Former F1 race winner Johnny Herbert pointed out the Briton’s frustration, which is visible during the post-race interviews.
Herbert detailed the reason behind Hamilton’s frustrations as he said,
“We get it. We understand that it’s a frustrating place to be when you’re trying, everything you possibly can with all the experiences that you have, but you can’t do it. It’s not easy anymore. Where it used to be just, you just put the helmet on, the visor went down, you just did it. And now he’s having to work at it.”
Lewis Hamilton became the first Ferrari driver to have three consecutive Q1 exits and also failed to score a podium in his debut season with the Maranello-based team. His teammate, Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, scored seven podiums in 2025
