Lewis Hamilton finally claimed his first podium for Scuderia Ferrari last weekend, and Damon Hill has echoed Jolyon Palmer’s comments on the seven-time world champion by noting how ‘rejuvenated’ the 105-time Grand Prix winner is.

After seeing Lewis Hamilton claim his 203rd podium in F1 at the Chinese Grand Prix, former Renault driver Jolyon Palmer praised the Ferrari star for seemingly finding a ‘spring in his step’ at Maranello this year.

Hamilton’s debut season with the Scuderia certainly missed the mark from the expectations that the tifosi had for him when the move was initially announced, but the start of the 2026 campaign has, so far, seen a different side to him.

Ralf Schumacher’s theory is that Ferrari are no longer catering to Charles Leclerc’s every demand, opening up some dialogue for the Briton to develop the car into a position that is more aligned with his driving style.

Whatever the reason is, Hamilton seems to be back to his very best with Ferrari this year, and Palmer isn’t the only figure inside the F1 paddock who has noticed it.

Damon Hill highlights how Lewis Hamilton is a ‘rejuvenated’ figure at Ferrari this year

During the latest episode of the Stay on Track podcast, the 1996 F1 world champion, Damon Hill, echoed Palmer’s comments about Hamilton by detailing the change in demeanour he has seen from the Ferrari star this year compared to last.

The 22-time Grand Prix winner told his co-host, Johnny Herbert, “Interestingly, Lewis has been rejuvenated. He did not like those. Ground effect cars. And lots of teams didn’t like those ground effect cars, the Venturi ground effect cars, as Adrian would say.”

Herbert and Hill touched upon the topic later on the episode as well, with the former adding, “It’s really, really lovely to see. I honestly thought there was that period where it wasn’t happening for him anymore and he’d sort of had his peak, when he went through a lot of difficulties.”

Hill then said, “He got very down, rebuilt himself, and now he’s back with a spring in his step. I think it clearly helps if you’ve got a sniff.

“I always said this: give him a sniff of victory, and suddenly you’ll see a different guy. But he does need to have a car that he can use, and he seems to be revelling in these regulations.”

Damon Hill thinks Lewis Hamilton was ‘hamstrung’ by the previous ruleset in F1

The former F1 rivals then turned their attention to Hamilton’s struggles in recent years, with Herbert sharing his surprise at the seven-time world champion’s inability to find his feet in the ground effect era.

Hill began by noting, “We’ve had quite a few regulation changes in the last 15 years or so. If you think of blown diffusers, double diffusers, venturi, hybrid versus normally aspirated, and all those changes.

“We have seen some drivers being able to adapt, and others not adapt to a change in the regulations. And I think that Lewis was hamstrung. He was hidebound or whatever the expression is. He was stuck with these cars, with the Venturi cars.

“He couldn’t get the thing to work the way he wanted to. And I do think that there’s such a thing as driving styles suiting certain formulas.”

Herbert then concluded, “That’s a big thing. And some drivers are able to adapt to that. And Lewis, I always thought, was one of those, to be honest. But it’s just amazing how last year that just was not the case. He was struggling big, big time. So he’s adapted brilliantly.”