Former F1 driver and ex-FIA steward Johnny Herbert saw a Lewis Hamilton in 2025 who looked lost at times, and could not find an answer to the Ferrari car’s problems like Charles Leclerc could.
As such, comparing Hamilton with fellow F1 veteran Fernando Alonso, Herbert said that he would back Alonso over Hamilton to deliver in an improved car, as the new regulations come into force for F1 2026. Meanwhile, Damon Hill believes a “whiff of victory” is all that it would take to reignite Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton approaches critical F1 2026
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It was a first season with Ferrari to forget for Hamilton, this union of the sport’s most successful driver and team failing to live up to the hype in 2025.
Hamilton ended the year without a podium, and 86 points worse off than teammate Charles Leclerc.
Arguably, the ground effect era did not quite live up to Hamilton’s expectations. The seven-time World Champion himself admitted that he would miss nothing about those cars, as new chassis and engine regulations arrive for F1 2026.
Looking ahead to the coming season, Herbert, a three-time grand prix winner, said of Hamilton on the Stay on Track podcast: “In the past, I always thought, anyway, he was always able to drive around the problem, and that now doesn’t seem to be the case.
“But is it just a case of… I remember Sebastian Vettel, when we had the blown floors. He was fantastic with the blown floors, and when the blown floors got taken away from him, it was never the same Sebastian Vettel before. So is it just the car doesn’t suit him?”
Herbert then focused on another multi-time World Champion in the form of Fernando Alonso, as podcast co-star, Damon Hill, brought age into the conversation.
Both Hamilton and Alonso are into their 40s; Alonso will turn 45 in 2026 while Hamilton has just celebrated his 41st birthday. Herbert suggested that the Spaniard “still throws some great performances in” at Aston Martin.
Hill responded: “He really does, but then you get the sense with Fernando, there’s a part of his career that went missing, and I think he feels he’s still got the fight. He wants to recover something.
“Whereas I wonder whether Lewis has had a belly full. You know, the post-race interviews… He doesn’t want to be there.”
Hamilton cut a downbeat figure at various points in 2025. His outbursts included suggesting Ferrari “change driver”, and calling it his “worst ever” season.
Herbert said: “It was uncomfortable, to watch, actually. And it was like, ‘Lewis, don’t do that. You never did that before. Don’t do it now. You’ve done so much in your career, don’t do that one.’
“But, 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 you just put the helmet on, the visor went down, you just did it, and now he’s having to work at it.”
As such, Herbert admitted that Alonso is the driver he would now more confidently back over Hamilton to excel in a more competitive car.
Both Aston Martin and Ferrari have their sights set on an improved season in 2026. With Adrian Newey and Honda on its side, Aston Martin will look to fulfil its title ambitions in the coming seasons, while challenging for both titles is the mission for Hamilton and Ferrari from the get-go.
“If I look at those two, and I go, right, which one would I expect, if he were given the car, which one would be the one I put my money on? And I probably, unfortunately, sadly, say I’d probably go [with] Fernando,” said Herbert.
“Fernando, he’s in a bad car in that Aston Martin. It’s not the best. It’s sort of there or thereabouts sometimes. But he’s able to sort of squeeze that extra something out of it.
“And I never saw that happen last year with Lewis, which I’m sort of shocked that we never ever saw that.
“I’m sure he’s very frustrated and shocked that he wasn’t able to do it. And then I look at his face and those interviews after the race, and you go, he’s lost.
“He cannot understand what he needs to do to get around the problem he’s got.
“And of course, Charles is getting around it.”
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As a seven-time World Champion, chasing a record eighth crown, Hill suggested that squeezing something extra out of a challenging car does not float Hamilton’s boat anymore.
Instead, he proposed how he believes the best version of Hamilton can be lured back out.
“I still believe that if you gave him a whiff of victory, then I think that fire would reignite,” Hill predicted.
For Hamilton and Ferrari, F1 2026 is arguably critical in ensuring that this partnership can deliver success.
Hamilton has already hinted at working with his personal team on changes in preparation, and delivered a powerful birthday post on his Instagram account, declaring that “the time for change is now” as he goes on a fresh hunt for title number eight.
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