Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Lewis Hamilton said Ferrari’s strong start to 2026 has helped him answer the people who claimed his Formula 1 career was over after a podium-less 2025 season.
Hamilton’s first year at Maranello brought the first campaign of his 19-season F1 career without a grand prix podium, a slump that fueled talk of retirement after a difficult season in the SF-25. Three races into 2026, that picture has changed sharply. Hamilton has already reached the podium three times, including his first for Ferrari in China on his 26th start for the team.
Speaking to F1, the seven-time world champion said the backlash from last year became part of his motivation. “When you have difficult years, there are a lot of questions all over the place,” Hamilton said. He then aimed at unnamed critics, saying he had seen “certain individuals who haven't had anywhere near the success that I've had, just talking negatively, as they continue to do.”
The early results have given him clear satisfaction. Hamilton said it “felt great” to come back and start the season strongly, adding that it had allowed him to show he still has “what it takes to compete at the front.” He added: “I'll continue to try and show up and deliver in that way.”
The turnaround has also lifted Ferrari’s position at the front of the field. Hamilton sits fourth in the drivers’ standings and is eight points behind team-mate Charles Leclerc, a marked improvement on the doubts that surrounded him at the end of last season.
Hamilton linked some of that rebound to the 2026 rules reset. He said the current cars have removed one of the biggest frustrations of the previous generation. “It's really nice to have started the season, and we don't have bouncing,” he said. Hamilton called the last generation “a nightmare for everyone with bouncing, apart from maybe the Red Bulls,” and said the reset had returned the fight to “pure car performance.”
That shift, in his view, has made the season a development contest again, with teams racing to add performance through the year. For Hamilton, it has also made Ferrari’s work away from the track more meaningful than it was in 2025.
Discussing his visits to Maranello, Hamilton said the team now has a stronger base for collaboration. “This is exactly what we need,” he said. Last year, he added, “there was no point having those meetings for the car that we were in,” but now Ferrari can hold those discussions and “plan for this year,” a change that has helped turn retirement talk into an early-season response on track.