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Ferrari will be glad that Lewis Hamilton caused them a big headache with the change he wanted above all for the SF-26, after winning the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Hamilton proved that his growing horde of doubters were wrong to suggest that Father Time had caught him last Sunday, as the 41-year-old took his first Grand Prix win in red at the 31st attempt. The win even ended Hamilton’s 686-day wait to return to the top step of a podium.
A late virtual safety car period helped Hamilton win the Barcelona-Catalunya GP by 19.561s over Mercedes rival George Russell, as it left the Ferrari star in clear air. Yet his speed with a three-stop strategy was likely enough for the seven-time F1 champion’s 106th win, anyway.
Lewis Hamilton is now only missing a Grand Prix pole position for Ferrari 🏆 Predict when it will come?
Lewis Hamilton caused ‘ructions’ throughout Ferrari by demanding Carbon Industrie brake discs
Hamilton’s victory in the Barcelona-Catalunya GP was the result of all of the work he has put into making his move to Ferrari a success after a difficult debut campaign for the Scuderia in 2025. The Briton failed to earn a Grand Prix podium in a season for the first time last season.
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Throughout 2025, Hamilton sought to change Ferrari’s procedures and help steer the design of their car for the 2026 F1 regulations era. But the biggest change that Hamilton wanted to see was hard for Ferrari and team boss Fred Vasseur to realise, as it was to swap his brakes.
According to Motor Sport Magazine, Hamilton ‘caused ructions’ throughout Ferrari when he pushed to have Carbon Industrie brake discs instead of Brembo discs. His demand caused the Scuderia a political problem, as Brembo is a long-standing partner of the Italian F1 team.
Vasseur, however, made it possible for Hamilton to use Carbon Industrie brake discs, like the ones he used throughout his years at Mercedes. The Briton prefers the instant feel of the CI discs for his late-braking driving style, whereas Brembo’s discs have a progressive grading.
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Hamilton does not feel he needs the gradual grading feeling that the Brembo discs offer, as his braking style favours the powerful stopping impact of Carbon Industrie discs. And taking a debut win in red in Barcelona would have helped Hamilton show Ferrari that he was right.
Getting an instant feeling from the Carbon Industrie brake discs when he brakes now allows Hamilton to attack the corner entry phase more naturally than he ever could in 2025, which was also a consequence of the ground-effect era and Ferrari’s greater use of engine braking.
The 2026 F1 regulations have brought the required braking style much closer to Hamilton’s late and aggressive approach – which made it even more of a necessity that Ferrari found a solution that appeased Brembo and allowed him to use Carbon Industrie discs on the SF-26.
Without changing his brake discs, Hamilton’s first win for Ferrari may not have come in Spain last week, and he would almost certainly have struggled to emerge as a potential title threat to Mercedes gem Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Italian only heads the Briton by 41 points now.
Antonelli’s retirement from the Barcelona-Catalunya GP just one lap after taking P2 cost the 19-year-old a haul of 18 points. Yet Hamilton had already edged into second place in the F1 drivers’ standings before he won in Barcelona, and now he could think about an eighth title.
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