{"id":358570,"date":"2025-12-19T16:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T16:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/358570\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T16:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T16:01:11","slug":"lewis-hamiltons-struggling-in-f1-and-max-verstappen-feels-sorry-for-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/358570\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton\u2019s struggling in F1, and Max Verstappen feels sorry for him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen<\/a> says Lewis Hamilton<\/a>\u2019s tough 2025 Formula 1 season was \u201cnot nice to see\u201d.<\/p>\n

Despite a sprint victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton most often struggled to match team-mate Charles Leclerc<\/a> and failed to record a single podium finish in his maiden campaign at Ferrari<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By the end of the year, the seven-time world champion was visibly distraught and perplexed by his inability to wring the most out of a tricky SF-25.<\/p>\n

This was by every metric Hamilton\u2019s worst season over his 19-year career in F1, and four-time world champion Verstappen, who earned some of his greatest successes against the Briton, has been saddened by the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn’t been a good season for him, of course,\u201d the Dutchman told Viaplay. \u201cYou can tell from everything, like the onboard radio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really hurts,\u201d the interviewer suggested, to which Verstappen replied: \u201cTo be honest, for me too. I don’t like seeing that. I don’t know about quitting. He won’t give up, so he’ll definitely be there. But it’s not nice to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cQuitting\u201d refers to rumours about Hamilton retiring early, which were swiftly shut down by the soon-to-be 41-year-old<\/a>, who will become F1\u2019s fourth-oldest driver in the 21st century next year.<\/p>\n

Aston Martin\u2019s Fernando Alonso<\/a> is unrivalled in that category; the two-time world champion, who made his F1 debut back in 2001, will turn 45 during the 2026 season. He already is the oldest F1 driver since Graham Hill in 1975, and still leads Aston Martin\u2019s effort in the world championship, with clear dominance over team-mate Lance Stroll<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

But Verstappen warns that it does get harder with age, and he definitely isn\u2019t planning on sticking around that long: \u201cI think what you miss most… is more the physical discomforts. You suffer more from things. These cars aren’t the most comfortable to drive anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when you’re older, you naturally suffer more. Your shoulder, your back, your neck. I think it takes a bit more effort to keep everything in shape. So that’s something you have to focus on a lot more.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I think that when I’m 40, 44… I won’t be the same as I am now. But maybe not in terms of motivation either. And if you’re not in a top car, then definitely not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if Fernando were in a top car then… Like in 2023, you know, then he could compete for a podium. Then you see the fighter come out again. But when you’ve been world champion twice… and you’ve already won a lot… and you’re driving for P10… Yes, then you think [why am I doing this?].\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Filip Cleeren<\/p>\n

We want your opinion!<\/p>\n

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?<\/p>\n

Take our 5 minute survey.<\/a><\/p>\n

– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen says Lewis Hamilton\u2019s tough 2025 Formula 1 season was \u201cnot nice to see\u201d. Despite a sprint…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[195977,64,63,817,845,826,813,816,823,195976,825,85],"class_list":["post-358570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-and-max-verstappen-feels-sorry-for-him","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-lewis-hamiltonu2019s-struggling-in-f1","tag-max-verstappen","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}