Racing
© fuji.tim
Former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley says Ferrari’s only real path to the 2026 Formula 1 drivers’ championship is to prioritise Lewis Hamilton over Charles Leclerc.
Speaking on a post-race episode of High Performance Racing after the British Grand Prix, Smedley argued Ferrari cannot afford to let its two drivers race freely if it wants to beat Mercedes over the full season. The force of the argument was sharpened by the timing: it came immediately after Leclerc’s emotional Silverstone win, his first grand prix victory since 2024, which also gave Ferrari its 250th Formula 1 race win.
Smedley said backing Hamilton would require Ferrari to take a hard line that even he acknowledged runs against instinct. “100% agree with that. However, I am going to go against my own sense of logic and say I actually think that doing something as extreme as that is the only chance Ferrari has of winning this world championship.”
He framed it in championship terms rather than around a single race result. Smedley said that if Ferrari tries to close the gap to Mercedes on outright car performance while also “allowing the drivers to race each other with such a big gap between Lewis and Charles, the probability significantly diminishes for them to win the drivers' world championship.”
He then made his position even clearer, calling it “the one and only strategy” Ferrari has if it wants Hamilton to take the title.
The standings explain the logic. After Silverstone, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli leads the championship on 179 points, with team-mate George Russell second on 154. Hamilton is third on 147, leaving him within range of the lead battle, while Leclerc is fourth on 108, 71 points behind Antonelli.
That gap is what makes Smedley’s view so pointed for Ferrari. Silverstone gave Leclerc a landmark win and Ferrari a historic milestone, but in the drivers’ title fight Smedley believes the team’s best chance lies in turning fully toward Hamilton as it tries to stop Mercedes.