Damon Hill drops 5-word reaction to Lewis Hamilton terming the Ferrari an alien

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill gave a worrying reaction to Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton, terming the SF-25 "an alien" after the 2025 Bahrain GP qualifying. The seven-time F1 world champion had a tough start to the weekend at Sakhir International Circuit as he looked on the back foot in the Free Practice Sessions and was not comfortable with the upgraded floor.

The issues persisted in the qualifying session as well, and the British driver looked on the edge of his SF-25 while trying to extract performance over a single lap. The 40-year-old could only manage P9 at the end of the qualifying session while teammate Charles Leclerc started from the front row.

In his post-quali interviews, Lewis Hamilton was left perplexed and frustrated by his lack of pace and even told the media about the car:

“It just feels so alien, it really does feel so alien. Sometimes I think we all [as drivers] get stuck in our ways, very stuck, ‘I need to keep driving the way I’ve been driving, just make the car come to me a bit', and that’s not working. So I’m adjusting myself to the car, and also just the way the tools that they use, it just drives so much differently.

"I’ve never used engine braking before in the past 12 years, but here we use a lot of engine braking to turn the car. We have much different brakes, the brakes are so much different to what I had in the past."

On his Instagram story, the 1996 world champion gave a five-word reaction to Lewis Hamilton's comments in Bahrain and said:

"So what's going on here?"

Snapshot of Damon Hill's comment on Lewis Hamilton. Credits-Instagram

Lewis Hamilton recovered in the main race a day later and finished in P5 to bring some important points for himself and the team.

Lewis Hamilton analyzes the SF-25 's performance in Saudi Arabia

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton was once again dejected by his issues in the SF-25 around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after the two practice sessions in the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Speaking with F1.com, the 105-time F1 race winner relfected on the FP1 and FP2 sessions and said:

“Not the greatest. I think getting the tires working today was the issue from our side. It’s nothing to do with the team, it’s just that we were struggling to get the tires working.

"We’ll make some changes overnight and hope that tomorrow we can come back stronger. For me, I’m just seeing if I can get in the top 10 at the moment.”

The Ferrari driver finished P8 and P13 in the FP1 and FP2 sessions, respectively, and was behind the likes of Williams and Sauber over one lap.