Damon Hill urges a reset for Hamilton after bruising first year in red
Lewis Hamilton’s grand move to Ferrari was meant to be box-office. It still was, just not for the reasons anyone in Maranello hoped. No podiums, a single Sprint win in China, and a year-long wrestle with a car that never quite met him halfway. Damon Hill’s verdict? The seven-time champion needs to step back, breathe, and stop trying to carry the whole show on his shoulders.
Speaking on the Drive to Wynn podcast, the 1996 World Champion suggested Hamilton overcooked his first Ferrari campaign by taking on too much, too fast — the relentless schedule, the profile, the need to knit himself into an institution like Ferrari, all while chasing a car that didn’t give him the feedback he craves.
“This season is gruelling,” Hill said of F1’s 24-race marathon. “Different time zones, all over the place — it takes its toll. I think Lewis maybe overdid the workload. He was everywhere, promoting, working, trying to get to know the team. He probably needs a rest… just go away and enjoy life.”
That’s not the sort of advice serial winners usually entertain, but 2025 wasn’t a usual season for Hamilton. After calling time on his record-breaking Mercedes run and rolling into Maranello with the weight of Ferrari history on his back, the year unravelled in a way that invited comparison with the rawest moment of his career. Hill even suggested 2025 might have cut deeper than 2021, the year the title slipped away in Abu Dhabi under a late Safety Car and an infamous restart. Different pain, same sting.
Only Hamilton knows where those scars rank, but the portrait was plain enough across 24 races: flashes of speed, even flashes of joy, then too often a car that slipped from under him in dirty air or bounced him into a narrow operating window. He’s been upfront about it. Since ground-effect returned in 2022, this spec has never truly clicked. He’s called this generation “probably the worst one” for him, and you didn’t need telemetry to see why.
Ferrari’s year didn’t help. Winless across the campaign, the Scuderia was consistently good, occasionally sharp, but never armed enough to squeeze past the benchmark teams when it mattered. Inside the other half of the garage, Charles Leclerc did what Leclerc does: he hauled points and podiums out of thin air. Seven podium finishes and a clear cushion over his new teammate told the story. Hill’s take was blunt and fair: “I don’t think anyone can look at what Charles has done and not conclude he’s an extremely fast racing driver with the potential to become a World Champion. They just need to give him the car.”
If you want to be cold about it, the scoreboard did the talking. If you want to be kinder, you recognise that Hamilton walked into Ferrari with two massive jobs: learn a team with a different language, different rhythms, different political weather — and learn a car concept he hasn’t loved since 2022. Doing both at once, under the same red glare that devours rookies and legends alike, is a tall order.
That’s why Hill’s “less is more” advice lands. Hamilton’s always been a driver who thrives when he strips everything back: remove the noise, simplify the workflow, build the trust, then go hunting. The 2025 calendar gave nobody much chance to pause, and Hamilton, more than most, felt compelled to front the project. It’s admirable. It can also be exhausting.
The obvious pressure valve sits just over the horizon. 2026 will hit the reset button with overhauled chassis and power unit regulations. For Ferrari, it’s a chance to arrive early and arrive right. For Hamilton, it’s a shot at a car that behaves differently in traffic, responds more progressively, and doesn’t demand a knife-edge setup to unlock lap time. He’s praying the next era isn’t worse. There’s reason to believe it won’t be.
None of this means 2026 is a magic fix. Ferrari still has to convert a promising concept into a race-winning habit. Leclerc will still set a blistering reference. And Hamilton will still be 40, still as motivated as ever, still chasing an eighth title that lives in both folklore and a locked cabinet somewhere in Abu Dhabi. But if the team can hit the ground running and Hamilton takes the off-season to reset — not reorganise, not rebrand, just reset — the whole project will look and feel different by the time the covers come off in February.
We’ve seen this movie before. Great drivers don’t fade. They recalibrate. The best version of Hamilton at Ferrari won’t be the one trying to do everything at once — the ambassador, the glue, the lightning rod and the miracle worker. It’ll be the one who shows up on Friday, finds a car that’s finally speaking his language, and lets his right foot do the talking.
Ferrari doesn’t need a saviour. It needs a settled pair of hands and a quick car. Hamilton, even after a season that stung, is still the former. The winter will tell us if Maranello can deliver the latter.
