Damon Hill drops 3-word reaction to Lewis Hamilton's remarks on Red Bull dropping Liam Lawson

The news of Liam Lawson being dropped from the Red Bull stable led the F1 paddock to share their views on the hastily done driver change, and Lewis Hamilton was one of the drivers who felt the driver swap was unfair for the Kiwi. Subsequently, former F1 champion Damon Hill took notice of the Ferrari driver's comment and gave a concise verdict.

Lawson was brought into contention for the 2025 Red Bull seat after he was given Daniel Ricciardo's seat at the sister team. In the six races he participated in last year, he was able to convince the Austrian giant's hierarchy that he was the best bet for the team going forward.

However, just two races into the 2025 season, he was demoted back to the B-team, and Yuki Tsunoda was given the long-eluded promotion. The hurried nature of the driver swap led people to question Red Bull's mid-season swap, including Hamilton.

Hill gave a three-word reaction to Hamilton's comments on Lawson's snub, and wrote:

"Drivers rally around."

Damon Hill's Instagram story | Source:@96f1champ

Hamilton finished the two practice sessions in fourth place at the Japanese Grand Prix, a commendable effort from the Briton after a disappointing disqualification he received last race weekend.

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Lewis Hamilton opens up on the Friday running at the Japanese Grand Prix weekend

Lewis Hamilton driving the Ferrari SF-25 around the Suzuka Circuit - Practice - Source: Getty

While FP1 saw multiple drivers try to top the timing sheets and a new face of Ryo Hirakawa joining the grid in the session, FP2 was meant to be a practice for the qualifying at the same time on the next day.

But, these expectations were put aside by Jack Doohan's crash in the starting hour. This was then doubled down by another red flag caused by Fernando Alonso and two other red flags caused by grass fires during the session.

Despite this, Lewis Hamilton seemed happy with the work done during Friday running and said (via Ferrari):

"Overall it was a positive day. This is an incredible track and the first sector feels great – you can really push there, especially with the new surface. In FP1 the balance wasn’t as good as it could have been, but we made strong progress between sessions and I’m happy with the direction we took."

"There’s still some work to do overnight, and with the weather set to change, we’ll need to stay focussed – but we’re in a good position and I’m excited to see what we can do. It was amazing seeing so many of my fans in red, which I’m really grateful for and I hope I can bring them some good results this weekend!"

With the performance results available at hand, McLaren seems to be the fastest, with Ferrari and Mercedes following behind.