Formula One news

Hill warns Hamilton

Damon Hill warned his fellow countryman Lewis Hamilton that he will have to perform quickly at McLaren to avoid criticism. Speaking at the Autosport International show on Thursday, the 1996 world champion also said that future greats of the sport can be identified immediately when given their chance.

"Drivers who have gone on to become great like Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna arrived and went bang. They were on the scene, on the pace, outpacing their team mate, there right from the word go," said Hill.

Hill said it will come down to how the 22-year-old fairs against his double world champion teammate Fernando Alonso.

"Maybe people will give him the leeway and the benefit of the doubt for that first six months but then, at the end of the season if he hasn't outpaced Fernando at some point or other, people will say 'Where is it, where's the spark?

"He's got a window of opportunity to learn, but it's going to be a short one," said Hill.

On a more positive note, the potential acclaim from out-performing the Spaniard would be tremendous.

"It's a wonderful gift for Lewis to be put in a team with a guy like Fernando. All he has to do is beat Fernando and by definition he's a potential two times world champion," Hill added.

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