Lewis Hamilton: Back to his best or too soon to judge?
The Race F1 Podcast
The Race Media Ltd
4.5 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 March 2026
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Is Lewis Hamilton back to his best? That’s the question we ask in the latest edition of The Race F1 Podcast. Nelson Valkenburg and Mark Hughes join Edd Straw to look at Hamilton’s start to the season, and decide what conclusions can be drawn about his strong start. We tackle listener questions on the reasons for Hamilton’s past struggles, why he’s better suited to the current cars and his general demeanour. The progress of team-mate Charles Leclerc and Ferrari heir apparent Ollie Bearman are also delved into, along with a look at some of the other drivers who have started well, or troublingly, under the new regulations.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic |
| 0:02.0 | The Athletic |
| 0:04.0 | The Races on, and Lewis Hamilton has started F1's new regulations era well, backing his first podium finish for Ferrari in China and leading all three races held so far. |
| 0:21.7 | So what's behind his revitalised form? |
| 0:23.9 | And does this mean he really is back to his best? |
| 0:26.4 | I'm Ed Straw and joining me to dissect the seven times world champions performances are Mark Hughes and Nelson Valkenberg. |
| 0:34.7 | Well, Nelson, I'll come to you first. |
| 0:36.8 | It's quite good to have a storyline related to Lewis Hamilton that's kind of positive, not particularly because of supporting Lewis Hamilton or anything, but just because it's been a bit repetitive to have months and months and months of his struggles. But he has started brightly. |
| 0:53.1 | He has, and it's, I must say for me, unexpected, especially after seeing him in the first |
| 0:57.8 | week of testing in Bahrain, I was worried for him. But when he rocked up in Melbourne, it was a, |
| 1:03.3 | it was a different person. Or maybe it was the original person, but he, he was definitely a lot |
| 1:09.0 | brighter, cheerful, and quite punchy in the race as well. |
| 1:13.5 | So, yeah, I'm very pleased for him. |
| 1:16.0 | It's a very small data set, but it is very positive. |
| 1:19.9 | Well, we're going to get into some of the things that have happened to him in the start of the |
| 1:23.7 | season, his approach, etc., in a bit more detail, surely. |
| 1:25.9 | But Mark, it does just show |
| 1:28.0 | that what we've been saying about it being a bit inconclusive what we've been seeing from Hamilton |
| 1:33.5 | in recent years and leaving the door open for something like this to happen. It shows that was the |
| 1:39.0 | sort of right approach. You can't be necessarily definitive about what's happening and the reasons |
| 1:43.2 | for it. Yeah, I think it is |
| 1:45.1 | still a little bit inconclusive, but it is at least now on the positive side. But yeah, I think |
... |
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