Damon Hill got the F1 world talking over the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend when he told Ferrari to make Lewis Hamilton their number one.

In a post that has been viewed nearly a million times and prompted more than a thousand replies, Hill said Hamilton ‘would deliver for Ferrari if they back him 100%’.

Damon Hill explains exactly why Lewis Hamilton should be Ferrari’s number one driver

The two Ferrari drivers held what they described as productive talks with team principal Fred Vasseur in the Sao Paulo paddock. But Hill agrees with Martin Brundle that Hamilton and Leclerc are bound to clash again.

The heliocentric Verstappen believes F1 teams need number one drivers, a view shared by Hill. Leclerc is only 10 points behind Hamilton in the standings, but he apparently remains ‘error-prone’ after eight seasons at Ferrari.

Hill says Leclerc’s move on Liam Lawson in the final stages at Interlagos, which earned him a five-second penalty and cost him seventh place, exemplifies his ‘erratic’ driving style.

Leclerc has only won nine of his 171 races for Ferrari and has never been able to sustain a season-long title challenge. His fans would fairly point out that he has contributed nine of the team’s 15 victories since 2019, evidence that the car has been his biggest limitation.

“I cannot see how Fred Vasseur is going to resolve this thing by just having a chat, a sit-down and a talk between them and coming up with an agreement,” Hill told the F1 Show. “We’ve seen this time and again in our sport.

“It’s nearly always the team that has one driver that succeeds, whether it’s Michael Schumacher, whether it’s Max Verstappen.

“The problem that Fred has, he’s got a feisty driver, he’s in his prime now, Charles. Charles is still erratic. He’s very fast, but he’s also prone to errors. He got penalised for that last-lap overtake attempt on Lawson in Brazil. He biffed him out of the way, and I was watching the onboard going, ‘No, no, no, no.’

“It was cheeky, and it could have gone both ways, that one. 50/50 whether that was going to work.

“They’ve invested all this in Lewis, they’ve got him on board. He is a massive name in the sport. If they have a competitive car next year, they could win the world drivers’ championship and the constructors’ championship.

“I can’t see how they’re going to win it if they have two drivers currently behaving the way they do, if Charles is constantly racing against Lewis like that. You have to make a decision as a team principal [about] how you’re going to enter into the fray, and I think it makes sense to me to put all your eggs behind Lewis.”

“Charles might say, ‘Well, this is totally unfair, I’ve been here longer.’ Yes, you have been there longer, but look at the results.

“Lewis has got a valid point, which is that he’s there to make them win as a team, not just be a Ferrari driver.”

“We need to settle this in the team, because there’s a political problem in that team. For me, it seems like there are factions within the team that are shooting for one side or the other. You can’t have that if you’re going to be an effective competitor against the Red Bulls, McLaren and Mercedes.”

When Anthony Davidson argued that Hamilton needs to establish a clear superiority before meriting number-one status, Hill said: “How long do we wait for that to happen? How long has Charles been there at Ferrari? Lewis is by far and a way the more experienced driver in that team.

Hamilton’s contract expires at the end of 2027, according to reports, and Hill has questioned whether there was any ‘point’ signing him without giving him full backing.

“They’ve got possibly one more year with Lewis,” he said. “If he can’t do it, he’s halfway through the season and he’s still not delivering, or Charles is constantly quicker than him, there’s your answer.

“How many points are Ferrari going to lose with Lewis and Charles taking each other out? This is the problem. What I’m suggesting is radical, it’s unpleasant, it’s controversial, but it’s a decision. The one thing that Ferrari have trouble with is making decisions!

“On balance, what’s the point of having Lewis there if you’re going to get him to come second to the guy? What’s the point of spending all that money on him?”

On the other side of the debate, Ralf Schumacher has argued that Hamilton has no right to be number one because he has failed to decisively beat Leclerc.

Currently 152 points behind champions Mercedes, Ferrari are on course to finish second in the constructors’ standings. Hamilton was 32 points behind Kimi Antonelli after round nine of 23 at Silverstone, but the gap has now grown to 129.