Lewis Hamilton has revealed a seldom-spoken-of flaw in Ferrari’s 2026 Formula 1 package that he believes the team “could do better” to remedy.
The Scuderia’s already-outside chances in both World Championships slipped away further in Madring, with Hamilton retiring early on with a brake problem.
That, coupled with Charles Leclerc’s fourth-place finish and Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s victory, saw more ground lost to the Italian driver and his Mercedes team.
Hamilton has been persistent in his call for improvements from all corners of the Maranello-based squad if it is to challenge on a regular basis, striving to make good on his win in Barcelona earlier in the season.
And ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the Brit delivered an update on analysis of its showing in the Spanish capital a fortnight ago.
“I spoke with the engineers, just going over what we’ve done well and what areas we may have made mistakes or things we’ve missed,” he said.
“So we’re always looking to improve, so excited to try to remedy some of those.”
The SF-26 has been noted for strength on a number of circuits due to its competitive chassis, but has been let down by a power unit that has lacked performance compared to the Silver Arrows.
But when asked if that is the most specific area where Ferrari needs to make up ground to compete with Mercedes, Hamilton identified another area where it could improve.
“I think when people are watching, they probably don’t think too much in depth about the tyres,” he said. “And I think the tyres are the things that deliver a huge amount of performance if you believe it or not.
“That’s a science in itself, so I think that’s an area that we could do better and I think could deliver quite a bit of performance.”
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