FIA steward admits F1 legend Lewis Hamilton 'deserves eighth title'

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen talk after Abu Dhabi 2021 GP — Photo: © IMAGO

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FIA steward admits Hamilton 'deserves eighth title'

Lewis Hamilton lost out on an eighth world title in 2021, and has since been trying to reach those heights once more

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 11 June 2025 20:56

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An FIA race steward has said that seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton 'deserves' a record-breaking eighth title.

Hamilton lost out on an eighth title in the cruellest of ways back in 2021, and has since been trying to once again challenge 2021 rival Max Verstappen for the drivers' championship.

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However, since that blockbuster season, the highest Hamilton has managed to finish in the drivers' standings has been third, while Verstappen has gone on to add three more titles in the last three seasons.

In 2024, Hamilton decided to ditch his Mercedes team and instead join the most successful outfit in the history of F1, signing a contract with Ferrari that saw him team up with the Scuderia back in January.

Since then, however, an eighth world title has looked further away than it arguably has been in any of the past four seasons. Hamilton is yet to have scored a main race podium in 2025 across nine race weekends, and is sat down in sixth in the drivers' championship.

While Ferrari's lack of pace has not helped, Hamilton has also looked slow compared to new team-mate Charles Leclerc, only outqualifying the Monegasque driver twice in nine attempts, and sitting 23 points behind his team-mate in the standings.

Now, FIA race steward Derek Warwick, who will be stewarding this weekend at the Canadian Grand Prix, has said that he would like to see Hamilton challenging for an eighth title again before his career comes to an end.

"Do I want Lewis to win races and challenge for the world championship? Yes, I think he deserves it, I think he deserves that eighth world title," Warwick told Plejmo.

"It’s not going to happen this year, and I think if it carries on the way it is at the minute, I suspect he’s already thinking of stopping.

"I don’t see him running half a second behind Charles, and also running in sixth, seventh and eighth place. He’s had enough of that for the last three years, with Mercedes, so he needs to get a bit of confidence back.

"In China, when he won the sprint race, I thought that was the turning point, but the car’s still not to his liking."

Can Hamilton find his form?

Warwick isn't the only one to suggest that Hamilton may be thinking of quitting the sport, with Ralf Schumacher recently saying that the 40-year-old could retire before his contract expires at Ferrari in 2026.

Ralf Schumacher suggested that Lewis Hamilton may retire before the end of 2026

The rest of the 2025 season is set to be huge for Hamilton. With no championship in sight for either he or Ferrari, it will all be about trying to find confidence in his ability and in his new team ahead of new regulations sweeping into the sport in 2026.

Those new regulations could see a major shakeup of the current pecking order in F1, meaning Ferrari could be more capable of challenging for race victories than they are currently.

Hamilton will be desperate to make sure that he is in a position to extract as much out of the car as possible for if that situation arises, or face retiring stuck on seven world titles, as Michael Schumacher did before him.