Damon Hill shares why he thinks Lewis Hamilton might struggle after the F1 summer break

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The Formula 1 summer break came at the worst possible time for Mercedes.

Toto Wolff’s team have won three out of the last four races and would have loved to continue that momentum after what they thought was a one-two finish at the Belgian Grand Prix.

George Russell crossed the line first after a brilliant one-stop strategy and while Lewis Hamilton was frustrated not to have won the race originally, he was on hand to capitalise when Russell’s car was discovered to be underweight.

Mercedes are currently 4^th in the Constructors’ Championship and have a 100-point gap to close to catch McLaren let alone leaders Red Bull.

They could catch Ferrari before the end of the season if they continue to struggle with the major update package they brought to the Spanish Grand Prix but that’s likely the extent of the progress they can make in 2024.

Hamilton’s move to Ferrari is looming over Mercedes and the emotional scenes at the British Grand Prix when the seven-time world champion ended his long wait to win a Grand Prix highlight how important it is to both parties that they end their relationship on the best possible terms.

However, speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast, former title winner Damon Hill has shared his thoughts on how Hamilton may fare for the rest of the season.

He’s worried that Hamilton’s impending move to Ferrari may see Mercedes begin to hide information from him as they may be worried he will take their secrets with him to his new team.

Mercedes may start to favour Russell towards the end of the season as they prepare for him to lead the team in 2025 and beyond.

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Damon Hill shares his worries about Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes after the F1 summer break

Asked if Hamilton leaving at the end of the season to join Ferrari will impact his chances for the rest of the season, Hill said: “I think it’s got to, hasn’t it? I mean he’s got to be excluded from conversations to do with whatever’s coming for next year.

“They don’t want to show any insights that he might take to Ferrari particularly so it may be he’s deprived of a little bit more information than he’s liked in the past, but they are an honourable team, Mercedes and I think Toto is an honourable person.

“I think that he’ll always be treated fairly within the team, but there’s only so much you can give away, isn’t there, when you’ve got a guy leaving?

“It’s not like a technical person who when they leave a team they have to go on gardening leave and they can’t join a team until the following year or something like that.

“The drivers can go from day one to the next team the moment their contract has expired.

“The trouble is drivers are not necessarily privy to all of the technical things that happen and in any case they probably wouldn’t understand because it’s highly technical and you only have to speak to some of the engineers in the sport to know that there is a need to understand very complex technical things which very few drivers can do.”

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Lewis Hamilton’s potential Mercedes replacement has shared difficulties during testing

As Hill suggests, it’s hard to see Mercedes not working to get the best out of Hamilton until the end of the season given their relationship.

The car is in a fantastic place right now and they appear to be contenders to win every race going forward.

However, Hamilton isn’t going to u-turn on his decision meaning a likely call-up for youngster Kimi Antonelli.

The Italian has had a decent Formula 2 campaign without dominating the series in the same way as Oscar Piastri and Russell.

However, Antonelli has impressed in behind-closed-doors tests in old Mercedes F1 cars and that’s what’s encouraging the team to give him a race seat in 2025.

Antonelli has admitted he’s struggled in one key area when testing behind the scenes but the more practice he gets, the more likely he is to iron out any issues.

He turns 18 at the end of August and it won’t be long until he’s taking part in an FP1 session during a race weekend.