Lewis Hamilton clearly pays price for his reluctance after Ferrari’s change on Charles Leclerc’s car

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Lewis Hamilton seems to have paid the price for refusing to use Ferrari’s simulator, as he will not start the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend with their rear wing update.

Ferrari are primed to try a new version of their Macarena rear wing at the Hungarian GP this weekend. Yet spy photographs of inside the Scuderia’s garage on Thursday seem to reveal that only Charles Leclerc is set to test the updated wing, at least in the first practice session.

Hamilton looks set to continue using the version of Ferrari’s Macarena rear wing that he had at Spa for last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. Spa is a very different track to the Hungaroring, where mid-corner downforce is crucial unlike at the high-speed track in the Ardennes forest.

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Ferrari have only fitted their Hungarian Grand Prix rear wing upgrade on Charles Leclerc’s car

Ferrari have been aggressive with their rear wing upgrade in Hungary, more than it was also expected ahead of the event on the outskirts of Budapest. The Scuderia have sought to add more downforce on both of their cars this week, given that straight-line speed is not critical.

READ MORE: How to watch the 2026 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix, plus the weather forecast

One aspect of Ferrari’s rear wing upgrade at the Hungarian GP is their version of the small flaps on the trailing edges. But Motorsport.com reports that Ferrari have also added three strakes in the centre of their wing, similar to the radical designs that were used in Monaco.

Ferrari’s head of aerodynamics Diego Tondi oversaw the design of the wing, which features two vertical support pillars underneath three curved flaps in the centre. The Scuderia have been able to incorporate these elements as their Macarena rear wing does not require the traditional mechanism to lift the upper flap of the wing when drivers engage straight mode.

Yet Ferrari have only fitted their upgraded high-downforce rear wing on Leclerc’s car ahead of the Hungarian GP weekend commencing. And Hamilton may only have himself to blame for Ferrari deciding that Leclerc will test their rear wing first at the Hungarian GP this week.

Hamilton’s refusal to use Ferrari’s simulator may be behind Leclerc getting their rear wing upgrade

If you got the chance to drive in an official F1 simulator, which track would you tackle first?

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While Leclerc relies heavily on Ferrari’s simulator, so he will have no doubt already enjoyed some laps with their latest rear wing, Hamilton stopped using Ferrari’s simulator ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix back in May and is adamant that doing so is helping him perform better.

Hamilton replied bluntly, “No”, when asked recently whether he had used Ferrari’s simulator since revealing that he had abandoned it in Canada. The Briton believes it has had a massive positive effect on his form, too, as he felt that Ferrari’s simulator had been misleading him.

“No,” the seven-time champion stated, via RacingNews365. Hamilton added on whether not using Ferrari’s simulator has helped: “Massively.

“I tried all last year with it but, as I said, when I was at Mercedes for the first few years I didn’t use it. As it continued to develop, there was a point where we didn’t use it.

“I’ve been driving simulators since 1997, and they can be really powerful and really useful tools, but they can also mislead you. I found all last year particularly that was the case, and then in previous years when I was at Mercedes it was very similar. So, that’s why I didn’t use it. [And] since I stopped, my performance has gone much, much better.”

Now, while Leclerc will likely have been testing the latest high-downforce edition of Ferrari’s Macarena rear wing in their simulator prior to the Hungarian GP, Hamilton will not have that previous knowledge. So, Leclerc will be able to tell Ferrari about any changes between how it acts on-track compared to in their simulator, while Hamilton would not have been able to.