Lewis Hamilton’s worrying reaction to every journalist in Abu Dhabi as Damon Hill makes ‘lost his edge’ claim

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Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton needs to recover from qualifying outside of the top 10 for the eighth time this season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

For the first time since 2009, Lewis Hamilton has qualified outside the top 15 for three successive Grand Prix as his first campaign with Ferrari comes to a disappointing end.

The seven-time world champion has finished outside of the points on five occasions in 2025, but more worryingly, he’s yet to finish on the podium, something that has never happened during his Formula 1 career.

Nico Rosberg has warned Hamilton that Italy could give up on him if his form doesn’t improve soon, which adds an extra layer of pressure that he never felt at Mercedes.

The ground-effect era of Formula 1 hasn’t been kind to Hamilton, and there’s hope that 2026 and beyond will be better for the 40-year-old.

However, if it isn’t, then Hamilton will have to question his F1 future, and Damon Hill has spotted a sign that he might already have ‘lost his edge’.

Hill has told Ferrari how they can help Hamilton win another title, but there are also question marks over whether Fred Vasseur’s outfit are capable of that.

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Damon Hill is starting to wonder if Lewis Hamilton has ‘lost his edge’ at Ferrari

Hill was speaking on the Chequered Flag Podcast and was asked about Hamilton’s third consecutive Grand Prix Q1 exit and whether this compounds a really difficult first season with Ferrari.

He said: “It really does. And I think that he would be upset and slightly worried about how he didn’t deliver in order to get through into the second [session], at least Q2.

“But he had the car that he thought, but you saw what Charles Leclerc had to do in a Ferrari just to drag it up there

“But then, of course, that’s what you’re expecting, you’re going to get with Lewis Hamilton as well.

“So he’s not able to do it yet. Or maybe that’s the question is whether he’s lost the edge to be as quick as you need to be.”

Hill went on to predict that Verstappen would win the race, but Norris would win the championship.

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Lewis Hamilton looked ‘so dejected’ as he shook his head at every journalist in Abu Dhabi

Later in the podcast, journalist Rosanna Tennant reported back from the F1 media pen and said: “I said that to him, ‘We heard you on the radio saying exactly that. What happened? Where did it get away from you?’

“And he said, ‘Oh, it just wasn’t fast enough.’ And I was like, but come on, you’re Lewis Hamilton. Like what? And he’s like, it’s just so close out there.

“But he was so dejected. He had his arms folded across his chest in the media pen. He was shaking his head at all the media.

“He started on the other side of the pen from where I was based. And every single journalist got a shake of the head, about a two-word answer, looking down, mumbling. I could barely hear his answer that he gave me.

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“So it’s a really difficult way to sign off from this season. And given the track that we find ourselves on, he’s not going to be able to make up that many places.

“So it’s a really sad way to end this first year for him at Ferrari.”

Hamilton could only apologise after qualifying, and his crash in FP3 might have cost him the eight-thousandths of a second that saw Yuki Tsunoda eliminate him in Q1.

He struggled to work his way through the pack in Qatar, and while overtaking is equally difficult in Abu Dhabi, he’ll be aiming for at least a top-10 finish to end the season on a high.