"He’s going to win at anything he does" F1 champion hails Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari progress

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill has heaped praise on Lewis Hamilton for his dramatic turnaround in form this year.

Hamilton had a torrid start to his career at Ferrari in 2025, with the seven-time world champion struggling to string together consistent results last year.

The Brit finished the season 6th in the standings, 96 points shy of his teammate Charles Leclerc and went the entire season without standing on the podium in any Grand Prix.

This year however the 41-year-old driver has seen a complete u-turn in performance, securing a dominant victory in Barcelona, and four other podium finishes. As he sits second in the standings heading into the summer break, 1996 world champion Damon Hill praised Hamilton for using his 'power' in the sport to help bring Ferrari back to winning ways.

"Cream always rises to the top, doesn’t it?." Hill told F1.com.

"He’s going to win at anything he does. I don’t think it sits easily with him to back off. He’s been working hard over the winter, clearly, and he’s worked on how he wants the Ferrari to be for him.

"They signed him, they paid a lot of money to have him, so he’s saying, ‘Okay, I’m not going to just sit here and do what you do.'

"'I’m going to tell you what I do, and you’re going to make it suit me’. The power he has, the reputation he has, he’s putting to work, to protect himself. He’s right to do that."

Despite looking much more comfortable on track, Hamilton has had a run of disappointing results in the last two rounds before the summer break.

Hamilton was given four penalties across the last three race weekends, including two at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver was also slapped with a five-second time penalty for a false start at Silverstone, and hit with the same punishment for causing a first-lap collision with George Russell at the next round at Spa.

Hamilton has conceded that the recent penalties have been due to his own performance. Speaking after the Hungarian Grand Prix he said: "I have to accept that I've made mistakes in the last three races that have cost me a lot of points. I just need to take this time to reflect and sort my head out so I can come back and be a bit stronger.”