Racing
© Liauzh
Lewis Hamilton’s fourth place at the Belgian Grand Prix sent the Ferrari driver up to second in the 2026 drivers’ standings on 159 points, meaning he has already surpassed the 156 points he scored in all 24 races of his difficult 2025 season after only 10 grands prix this year.
That swing is being driven by a level of consistency Hamilton never found in his first Ferrari campaign. He has taken five podiums in 10 races, including his first win for the team in Barcelona, where he handed Mercedes its first defeat of the season. He is also the only driver on the grid to have completed every lap so far in 2026, and his worst results have been sixth places in Japan and Miami.
The contrast with last year is stark. Hamilton’s 2025 season ended without a grand prix podium and without a race win for the first time in his Formula 1 career, before three straight Q1 eliminations closed out what was described as the most complicated campaign of his career. A winter reset has changed the picture.
Yet Hamilton arrived at the Hungarian Grand Prix with more frustration than satisfaction after Spa. He believes Ferrari had the pace to win in Belgium, but that his own mistake in Free Practice 3 got in the way. A Saturday morning excursion damaged the car, forced multiple component changes before qualifying and, in his view, compromised the rest of the weekend. Charles Leclerc qualified ahead of him and finished second.
Speaking to Sky UK around the Belgian Grand Prix, Hamilton said Ferrari’s underlying level was clear despite his problems. “As I said, I think we had the pace to win in Belgium. Considering everything that happened, to come away with that many points is a great thing.”
He was equally clear that the bigger issue was his own execution. “I can’t afford to have weekends like this, particularly because of what I did on Saturday. So for next weekend I will raise my level of concentration.” He also said Ferrari’s overall pace was encouraging, adding that being where he was despite his issues showed what the team had achieved.
That is the tension in Hamilton’s season as F1 heads to Budapest. He is 45 points behind championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but Ferrari’s form at Silverstone and Spa has convinced him the car is now a genuine contender at the front. Hamilton said the Ferrari is moving in “the right direction,” praised the team’s steady improvements and said more upgrades are on the way to try to close the gap.
The Hungaroring gives him an immediate chance to turn that progress into a better result. It is one of Hamilton’s strongest venues, where he holds the records with eight wins and nine pole positions, and he made clear what Ferrari’s target should be: “Firstly I need to come correct and make sure I deliver the way I know I can deliver in Budapest. We have to come and fight for that win.”