Damon Hill thinks Lewis Hamilton has ‘lost something’ and makes worrying Fernando Alonso comparison

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The 2026 Formula 1 season will see Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso battling against each other for the 18th year of their careers.

Although Lewis Hamilton made his debut alongside Fernando Alonso at McLaren in 2007, the Spaniard’s sabbatical in 2019 and 2020 brought their rivalry to a brief halt.

However, after winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans and racing in the Indy 500 and the Dakar Rally, Alonso was back on the grid in 2021 with Alpine.

Hamilton and Alonso have always been bitter rivals, with McLaren deciding not to prioritise either of them during the British driver’s rookie season.

Has Damon Hill just identified what’s going wrong for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari?

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That opened the door for Kimi Raikkonen to win his only F1 title, and it remains the last time a Ferrari driver has won the championship.

Alonso and Hamilton will never be ‘best friends’ after that feud, but they continue to race in F1 into their 40s, with several drivers on the grid now less than half of their ages.

Hamilton struggled at Ferrari last season, while Alonso continued to prove he still has what it takes with Aston Martin.

Now, Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert have been looking ahead to next season, and have explained why they think Alonso appears to have more fight than the seven-time world champion.

READ MORE: Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso’s life outside F1 from net worth to Cars 2

Johnny Herbert thinks Fernando Alonso would beat Lewis Hamilton in the same F1 car after 2025 struggles

Analysing the two elder statesmen of the grid on the Stay on Track Podcast, Herbert said: “Fernando still throws in some great performances. Like last year, he did.”

Hill replied: “You get the sense with that, there’s a part of his career that went missing.

“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.”

Herbert explained: “It was uncomfortable to watch, and it was like, ‘Lewis, don’t do that. You never did that before.’

“If I look at those two, I go, 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. Fernando is in a bad car.

“I’m just saying he’s in a bad car in that Aston Martin, it’s not the best. 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 saw that.

“And 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.”

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family

Lewis Hamilton is learning the same lessons as Fernando Alonso did at Ferrari

Alonso drove for Ferrari for five years, coming second in the drivers’ championship on three occasions during that period.

He lost out to Sebastian Vettel each time, who later went on to enjoy a similar lack of success with the Scuderia.

Hamilton is learning why Alonso didn’t think he could win with Ferrari after just a year with the team.

The issue the British driver has is that Charles Leclerc is proving to be a potentially championship-worthy racer in a team not living up to expectations.

Meanwhile, Alonso dominated Lance Stroll at Aston Martin in 2025 despite the fact that they were only separated by 23 points in the championship.

Unfortunately for Hamilton, Alonso seems to have found a way to manage and delay his decline in his 40s that he hasn’t discovered yet.