Former F1 champion feels Lewis Hamilton has started to lose his ‘instinctive, unconscious speed’

Former Formula 1 world champion Damon Hill feels that Lewis Hamilton, given his age and experience in F1, has started to lose his speed on the track, thus affecting his results.

With seven world championships and 103 race wins, Hamilton is the most successful driver on the 2023 F1 grid. However, thanks to an uncompetitive car, he has been on the back foot since last season, which is unlike how Mercedes have performed over the years.

The lack of pace in last year's car was attributed to the porpoising effect, which was seen on many cars after the new regulations were set in. However, after Mercedes made a huge recovery by the end of the 2022 season, it was expected that the W14, this year's challenger, will make the team competitive again, but that hasn't been the case.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Hill stated that with age, Hamilton may have lost his raw racing speed. He said (via Motorsport Week):

"As you get older, maybe you’ve had crashes, your brain says: ‘I need to be more circumspect’. George is super quick and is revelling in the early part of his career. I don’t know if Lewis has acknowledged that he can’t match that. I’m sure he will do, eventually. It’s possible that the instinctive, unconscious speed has started to leave him."

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Hill compares Lewis Hamilton's situation to past world champions

Damon Hill's statement about Lewis Hamilton losing his racing pace is supported by the fact that George Russell, who had his first season with the team last year, outperformed the seven-time world champion.

This was quite extraordinary as Russell was only the third time a teammate of Hamilton over-outscored the Brit in Formula 1.

Hill, while talking about Lewis Hamilton, mentioned F1 legends Niki Lauda and Alain Prost, saying an experienced driver's performance can at times be affected by younger teammates. He opined:

"Niki Lauda had Alain Prost arrive. When the older, experienced driver is faced by the speed of a young arrival, they can get depressed about it or devote their energy to making sure the outcome in the race is the thing that matter."

However, other reasons were also given for this situation. It was speculated that since Hamilton had been driving an extremely competitive car for most of his career, the W13 (last year's car) was just not up to his driving capabilities.

Russell, on the other hand, had come to the team from Williams Racing and, compared to the cars he was driving until then, the W13 was an excellent machine for him.