Lewis Hamilton is at risk of tainting his Formula 1 legacy, and being remembered more so for an underwhelming conclusion to his career.

That is the “fear” expressed by former F1 driver and Australian motorsport icon David Brabham, who feels that Hamilton should have called time on his F1 journey before now.

Is Lewis Hamilton at risk of ‘twisted and tainted’ F1 legacy?

Since losing out on a record eighth title to Max Verstappen in the Abu Dhabi 2021 decider, Hamilton has been unable to challenge for that honour.

Off the back of a mixed 2024 campaign with Mercedes, Hamilton switched to Ferrari, though his fortunes are yet to significantly improve. Hamilton is still waiting for his first podium in Ferrari red, though did recover from an alarming slump to come back from the summer break back on the pace of teammate Charles Leclerc.

Such were Hamilton’s first half-season struggles, speculation began bubbling up over whether he would return after the summer break.

Hamilton did, but in Brabham’s opinion, the F1 icon “may be carrying on a little bit too long” in Formula 1.

Speaking with RacingNews365, Brabham – a former F1 driver and multi-time Le Mans class winner – continued: “I fear for him in the sense that he’s gone into quite a challenging situation with Ferrari to get them to become world champions again.

“I can understand why he feels he could do that. Time will tell whether he can.

“For me, he probably should have retired a couple of years ago and gone out on a real high.”

Furthermore, Brabham’s “concern” is that Hamilton will fail to rediscover the form which made him Formula 1’s most successful driver.

“And he’ll be remembered for the last couple of years of his career more than he will be for what he’s achieved, which is incredible and should be revered in that way.”

Brabham warns that “things can get twisted and tainted if the last few seasons of your career have not gone the way you want.” Therefore, he hopes Hamilton is “able to pull it off” at Ferrari and write a successful final career chapter.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc head-to-head

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Last time out in Baku, Ferrari drivers Hamilton and Charles Leclerc crossed the line a disappointing eighth and ninth respectively.

Hamilton believes the team can make life easier by improving in qualifying – Hamilton having started 12th and Leclerc 10th after a Q3 crash – though he offered a concerning assessment of Ferrari’s rivals at the sharp end of the grid.

Asked if he felt Ferrari could challenge the frontrunners, Hamilton replied: “McLaren’s been ahead all year.

“We haven’t made any steps to improve, so a good couple of steps behind. Red Bull took an upgraded floor, I think, in the last race.

“So they’ve now picked up their pace and [you have] to expect they’re probably going to win more races.

“[If] we qualify better, we’re going to be in a much better position to race.

“I mean, I would give anything for an upgrade, but obviously we don’t have that, we have to focus on next year’s car, so we just have to do better in optimising and execution.”

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