Ex-F1 Racer Admits Lewis Hamilton Is “in Danger of Tarnishing His Legacy” at Ferrari

Johnny Herbert believes that Lewis Hamilton might ruin his long-built legacy in Formula 1 because of his poor spell at Ferrari.

Ex-F1 Racer Admits Lewis Hamilton Is “in Danger of Tarnishing His Legacy” at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton (via Reuters)

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Lewis Hamilton‘s Ferrari debut was filled with massive disappointments. The 40-year-old could not even achieve a podium finish this year, thus marking the worst season in his long career in Formula 1. The Briton failed to make it out of the Q1 qualifying session for three consecutive races in the final races of the 2025 season.

Now, ex-F1 driver and sacked FIA steward Johnny Herbert claimed that the seven-time champion was simply tarnishing his legacy at Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton‘s best result throughout the 2025 season was only a sprint race victory in China. Since Ferrari stopped developing their car, Hamilton’s performance turned for the worse.

The 40-year-old couldn’t fare well against his teammate, Charles Leclerc, and failed to overtake him in terms of results as well. As such, Johnny Herbert delivered a brutal take on Hamilton’s time at Maranello and what he could expect for the coming season.

Johnny Herbert insisted that Lewis Hamilton was in danger of tarnishing the legacy that he built in Formula 1 over the years. Herbert made some ‘horrible’ claims and wasn’t happy to say, but he believed that Hamilton’s struggles in the 2025 season were probably the beginning of the end for the seven-time champion. As such, the 40-year-old was only going to go down in terms of performance from this point forward.

Yes, Lewis is in danger of tarnishing his legacy, and this is probably horrible to say, but it’s probably the start of that.

Johnny Herbert told NewBettingSites.UK.

Further, Johnny Herbert reckoned that it was poor for everybody to see Lewis Hamilton’s current state. The poor spell did not happen to both drivers at Ferrari, as Charles Leclerc was still performing much better compared to the 40-year-old. As such, Herbert reckoned that it would be very hard for Hamilton to choose when to stop racing in Formula 1 and give up for the better.

It’s been so poor, and it’s been so poor for everybody to see for him. It’s not as if it’s happened to both drivers. It’s only happened to one, and there is a point, and it’s a very hard point to know when to choose to stop.

Johnny Herbert added.

Lewis Hamilton needs to come back from his “worst-ever year in F1”

Lewis Hamilton’s struggles continued throughout the year, and not a single specific race weekend. The Briton couldn’t make it out of the Q1 qualifying in multiple races and finished 86 points behind his teammate Charles Leclerc. As such, the 2025 season was definitely the career worst for the seven-time champion, and anything in the coming years will only be better than this.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton (via F1)
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton (via F1)

Johnny Herbert reckoned that Lewis Hamilton needed to accept that his current form wasn’t the same as it was before. Herbert added that the 40-year-old wasn’t simply suffering from a few bad weekends; it was the entire 2025 season. The greatest difficulty for the seven-time champion was now that he had to bounce back from his career-worst year in Formula 1 and perform better in the coming year.

The more you sort of try and think I can do, sometimes you need to take three steps back and accept: ‘No. It’s not the same as it was.’ That sadly seems to be here, Lewis. It’s not just a few back weekends. It’s been pretty much every weekend. The big difficulty that Lewis has is how he turns around his worst-ever year in F1. 

Johnny Herbert noted.

Thankfully, the new regulations are up next in the 2026 season, and Lewis Hamilton might just perform better. The 40-year-old had shifted his priority to the upcoming regulations and hoped to emerge as a winning force by then. Hence, time will tell how Hamilton manages to achieve a comeback from his poor spell this year and start performing much better than his debut season.

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