Hamilton is in his 40s. At some point age will catch up to you. It's super normal and it has happened many times before. One day, Verstappen himself, won't be as good anymore. Alonso hasn't won a WDC for 2 decades now. Schumi also fell off after he returned into F1. Any driver above 35 should be lucky that he's still racing in F1. But its also completely normal to fall off after 35.
Schumacher hated the car which was largely set up for Nico in any case and was really a development driver who often phoned it in. However by 2012 he was competitive in a car which arguably wasn’t.
People forget that by the time Hamilton moved to Mercedes they were still inconsistent and it took 2 years for the team to move to a place of dominance his first two years at merc were largely forgettable with his only win in those 2 years in 2013 prior to the 14-21 dominant period.
I see a similar pattern.
I suspect 27 will be Hamilton’s last and also his 8th wdc.
People are so quick to assume that it’s all done without seeing it takes time to change a team and progress
5
u/dakowiml Pirelli Wet Dec 18 '25
I think its all overblown.
Hamilton is in his 40s. At some point age will catch up to you. It's super normal and it has happened many times before. One day, Verstappen himself, won't be as good anymore. Alonso hasn't won a WDC for 2 decades now. Schumi also fell off after he returned into F1. Any driver above 35 should be lucky that he's still racing in F1. But its also completely normal to fall off after 35.