The current concerns of Lewis Hamilton extend beyond the performance of his Mercedes challenger. For him, as per many, the bigger concern would be the rising performances of his teammate–a very talented young superstar named George Russell, who got the team its sole victory in 2022, where all hopes of winning a race were actually dashed. For Lewis, it’s the hunger of the young blood and his increasing age that will cause problems.

This year so far, Hamilton has an edge over his teammate. But if you consider the run at the Australian GP by Russell, the difference is obvious. Former F1 champion Damon Hill shared a similar belief in the rising challenge for an aging Lewis Hamilton. He believes that there will be a time for Lewis soon when he’ll have to come to terms with his age and declining speed, and the presence of a budding George Russell won’t make things any easier for him.

Hill highlighted a decline for Lewis Hamilton, who is faring worse than his teammate. Speaking at the F1 Nation podcast and quoted by F1maximaal.nl, he said, “George is super fast and having a good time. Sooner or later Hamilton has to admit he can’t keep up. It is possible that this instinctive, almost unconscious speed is slowly disappearing. Lewis knows exactly what he is doing and has to do, young drivers like Russell can still be unpredictable.”

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This should come as nothing but concern and a warning for Hamilton, who doesn’t seem to be at his best among the newer generation of drivers. However, despite all the factors that may be putting the Mercedes driver at a disadvantage, he remains a force to be reckoned with.

Lewis Hamilton can still get on top of the action 

Lewis Hamilton has proven himself time and time again, especially when going up against his own teammates. It was only until the last season that we saw him struggle like never before when George Russell stormed ahead. Since then, concerns about his decline against a young teammate have been around.

But Damon Hill believes that the Toto Wolff-led squad still backs the senior Briton as earlier. He said, as quoted by GP Blog, “They know given half a sniff of a chance, Lewis is going to be back on top form and can deliver those extraordinary races. They know George can do that but he is yet to prove that,” while backing his claims of Lewis going up against Valtteri Bottas in the past and running away to win the championship with miles to spare.

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For Lewis, the challenge would be to keep himself composed and not bow down to the pressure that Russell puts in front of him. Do you think he can do that? Or will he succumb, much like last year?