Lewis Hamilton has made an ‘amazing’ personnel change at Ferrari which has transformed his fortunes

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After 25 races without finishing on the podium as a Ferrari driver, Lewis Hamilton finally ended his wait for a Grand Prix top-three finish at the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix.

It was a thrilling Chinese Grand Prix, with Ferrari briefly looking like they could win their first race since Mexico City in 2024.

Lewis Hamilton produced another fantastic getaway off the line, overtaking Andrea Kimi Antonelli into the first corner.

Antonelli went on to win his first Grand Prix, but in the battle between Hamilton and Charles Leclerc for the final spot on the podium, the seven-time world champion came out on top.

Leclerc was the clear number one Ferrari driver last season, but Hamilton looks far more comfortable in this generation of cars.

Former Formula E star Sam Bird believes that Hamilton now looks more ‘motivated’ and has put that down to a change of personnel behind the scenes at Ferrari.

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Lewis Hamilton ‘finding his feet’ at Ferrari after race engineer change

Bird was speaking to Harry Benjamin on the Chequered Flag Podcast, and speaking about the 41-year-old, the commentator said: “So it does feel like we’ve got a rejuvenated Hamilton. Ferrari need to keep the momentum going.

“We saw the flip-flop wing debut at the start of the weekend. It’s disappeared now. They elected not to use it, but I like the fact that they brought it anyway.

“I wonder, is Lewis Hamilton the man we’ve known for so many years as the best in the sport. He lost his way, maybe last year, last couple of years in the ground effect era. Have we got the old Lewis Hamilton back?

Bird replied: “It’s great. He looks motivated, doesn’t he? He sounds up for it, and he sounds a lot more confident with the personnel and the team around him now at Ferrari.

“It’s amazing what a year will do. And you know what? He’s had a change of engineer. I think that’s been good for him. I think it’s been really, really good. He’ll still be finding his feet with this new engineer, but they seem to be gelling a lot better than the previous one.”

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Lewis Hamilton lauds one of the ‘most enjoyable races’ he’s had for a very long time in China

Leclerc enjoyed his race with Hamilton and believes that their wheel-to-wheel battle with his teammate is a good sign for Ferrari.

Hamilton’s radio communications sounded clearer in Australia, and while he was begging for more power to Carlo Santi on Sunday, he still sounded far happier than last season over the team radio.

Hamilton immediately praised Antonelli after the race, and when speaking about his 10th podium in Shanghai, he said: “It was one of the most enjoyable races I’ve had in a long, long time, if ever, the fact that the cars are the way they are this year.

“And that battle with Charles at the end was awesome – great wheel-to-wheel battle, very fair and just what we want.

“I think there was one moment where we did touch, but it was subtle, just a kiss, so it’s okay. But this is what it’s about – it’s about tough racing, and I’ve got to say a huge thank you to everyone at Ferrari, everyone back at Maranello for getting us into this position.

“I know it’s not exactly where we want to be – we want to be up front where these guys [Mercedes] are, but we’ve got a great platform to work off, and we’ve just got to [go] literally full gas.”

Leclerc has only been beaten by a teammate once in his Formula 1 career, when Carlos Sainz scored 5.5 more points than him in 2021.

Hamilton would love to become the second driver to achieve that feat, and if Ferrari can take one more step forward compared to Mercedes, it might end up being the battle for the championship.