Lewis Hamilton has given himself an honest review of his 2026 Formula 1 season to date following a competitive first half of the year for Ferrari.
Hamilton is a driver reborn in 2026, enjoying a far more competitive second season at Ferrari compared to the trials of his maiden underwhelming season in red.
The seven-time world champion’s confidence in the SF-26 has been clearly on display in the first half of the season, with Hamilton able to pull off overtakes and push the car hard to secure results. It marks a striking turnaround from a debut campaign in which he failed to stand on a single Grand Prix podium, the first time in his 20-year career that had happened.
This is in stark contrast to 2025, when, still adapting to the radically different working environment at Ferrari, he also grappled with a historic struggle to get to grips with the ground-effect cars, that went against his driving style. That difficult year included a lone highlight in China’s Sprint race, but otherwise brought a string of results well below the standard Hamilton had set across his career, leaving him openly reflecting on the need for changes to “optimise” Ferrari’s teamwork heading into 2026.
The increase in confidence this year has led to Hamilton battling Mercedes at times, and most notably taking an emphatic maiden victory for Ferrari at the Spanish GP, a result that arrived at his 31st attempt in Ferrari colours. He has backed that Barcelona win up with four further podium finishes and no result outside the top six all season, a run of consistency that has kept him clear of both Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell in the standings.
He has yet to retire from a race in 2026, and currently lies 50 points behind Kimi Antonelli – the driver who replaced him at Mercedes. But judging his own performance in the first half of the year, Hamilton gave a surprising self-evaluation: “Slightly above average, maybe.”
Lewis Hamilton focused on a “race at a time” approach
Hamilton also confirmed that despite being in a position to potentially challenge for an eighth world title, his focus is cemented on a race-by-race basis.
“I’m thinking about just one race at a time. I’m just trying to figure out how I can maximise each weekend, so I’m generally not thinking about 10 races from now.”
After struggling so badly with the ground-effect cars, the Briton also confirmed that he has not had to change his style or adjust to the radically different cars or the style in which they need to be driven, despite 2026’s all-new regulations marking one of the biggest technical shifts the sport has seen in years.
“I don’t think it’s more particularly more rewarding to anybody.
“I think we’ve all had to make adjustments, but I don’t feel like I’ve had to make more adjustments than any other, any other era of car.
With half of the season still to run and Ferrari having already shown flashes of genuine title-contending pace, Hamilton’s measured tone suggests a driver keen to let his results, rather than expectation, do the talking for the remainder of 2026.
Discussion about this post