Ferrari have fixed one of Lewis Hamilton’s biggest bugbears from last season with their 2026 car

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Lewis Hamilton completed his first run in Ferrari’s 2026 Formula 1 car on Wednesday, and it was an up-and-down experience for the seven-time world champion.

Ferrari have had a steady start to pre-season testing after an underwhelming 2025 campaign as they look to get a head start on their rivals as the new regulations are introduced.

Lewis Hamilton set the seventh-fastest time on Wednesday before handing the car over to teammate Charles Leclerc after the lunch break, although lap times are largely irrelevant at this stage.

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Hamilton struggled with his Ferrari’s braking during his time with the car, although this wasn’t a problem unique to the 41-year-old.

Alex Brundle has dismissed Hamilton’s initial issues, explaining that many drivers were having difficulties due to the conditions.

Journalist Edd Straw was watching Hamilton trackside and, after his first few hours in the car, suggested that Ferrari might have fixed one of the biggest issues he faced during his maiden campaign with the Scuderia.

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Ferrari appear to have fixed Lewis Hamilton turn-in issue on Lewis Hamilton’s car

Straw was speaking on The Race F1 Podcast after day one of testing, and explained: “Let’s talk about Ferrari a bit more generally.

“It didn’t look brilliant on track the Ferrari, it didn’t look disastrous, but it had the look of being quite responsive on turn in, which in one way is quite a good thing because obviously that was something Lewis Hamilton struggled with, and the old generation of cars, into slower corners.

“You struggle to get that kind of responsiveness, and watching up at turn four, for example, the right-hander, it looked pretty good.

“But there was again, I’ve said this about Ferrari before here actually, it seemed a bit too responsive at times, and some of that could have been the wind, but it didn’t look like the most planted car.

Day 1 in Bahrain and it’s Lando Norris on top! ⏱️

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“Likewise, watching the sweepers just after turn four, you could see that the rear was sort of hanging on and moving around.

“So, I’m not sounding the alarm bells for Ferrari, but it looks like they’ve got a little bit of work to do, and Hamilton was talking about the complexities of it and everything. He didn’t seem absolutely thrilled with the whole thing.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Lewis Hamilton still struggling with race engineer conundrum after Riccardo Adami exit

Another big talking point that Hamilton had to deal with throughout 2025 was his relationship with race engineer Riccardo Adami.

Adami has moved on within the Ferrari set-up heading into the 2026 season, leaving the seven-time world champion without a permanent engineer during testing.

Hamilton is working with Kimi Raikkonen’s old engineer for now, but admits it’s not a perfect solution.

Speaking to the press on Wednesday, Hamilton admitted, via The Race: “It’s actually quite a difficult period because it’s not long-term, the solution that I currently have.

“It’s only going to be a few races. So early on into the season, it’s going to all be switching up again, and I’ll have to learn to work with someone new.

“So that’s detrimental to me, too. A season where you want to arrive with people that have done multiple seasons, that have been through thick and thin – and I can’t.

“But it is the situation that I’m faced with, and I’ll try to do the best I can. The team is trying to do the best they can to help make it as seamless as possible.”