Damon Hill has strongly questioned the enjoyment Formula 1 drivers get from racing in the current generation of cars. According to the 1996 world champion, many drivers have not been truly enthusiastic about racing for years, but feel inhibited from expressing this openly. Hill believes that the recent 2026 regulations, in particular, have made the underlying discontent visible.
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The new technical direction for 2026 has been under fire from drivers for some time. Max Verstappen has repeatedly expressed criticism about the balance between internal combustion engine and electric drive and even spoke about a possible early departure from the sport. Hill, however, believes that the frustration runs deeper and did not only arise with the new regulations.
In conversation with The Undercut, The Race podcast, Hill outlines a broader analysis. “I’ve had the feeling for a long time that they don’t really enjoy driving these cars,” said Hill. “And by that, I also mean the cars from the ground-effect era with Venturi tunnels.”
According to Hill, the character of racing has fundamentally changed, with drivers increasingly driving less on instinct and attack and more and more being forced to manage. “In races, they literally drive around to save tires. They are not allowed to overload the tire. They drive towards a predetermined number.”
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‘Drivers are neutralized’
Hill suggests that drivers do indeed experience this, but that they only share their dissatisfaction under their breath. “They never really said it out loud, at most mumbled,” he says. “They try their best to say it’s not what you see, but they can’t say it the way they feel it, because that sounds ungrateful and for all sorts of other reasons.”
That reluctance worries Hill. According to him, modern Formula 1 drivers are severely restricted in their freedom of expression. “They are neutralized in many respects,” he explains.
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