Lewis Hamilton will be overjoyed when he hears what one F1 rival has ‘privately’ said about the 2026 cars

Follow us on Google Discover

Lewis Hamilton joined Ferrari to win a record-breaking eighth world championship. Within a few races, he likely realised that wasn’t possible in 2025.

Nine rounds remain, starting with this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, and he still hasn’t scored a podium. Ending that career-worst drought will be his priority for the remainder of the year.

Hamilton’s Sprint victory in China remains Ferrari’s only win of any description in 2025. He won’t have given up hope of standing on the top step in a Grand Prix.

But the bigger picture is that everything rests on 2026, when the sweeping regulation changes will give Ferrari a chance to compete again. Hamilton’s contract will run until 2027 if he activates the option for a further season, so he clearly decided to join the team last year based on their long-term prospects.

Lewis Hamilton can look forward to a completely different driving experience next year

There’s a growing consensus that Hamilton is fundamentally ill-suited to the ground-effect cars. In 2022, the first year of the current ruleset, he was outscored by Mercedes debutant George Russell.

While his 2023 season was strong – he was the lead driver behind the historically dominant Red Bulls – his final year at Mercedes was statistically the poorest of his career as he slipped outside the top six for the first time. He’s gained a spot this term, but the lack of podiums still makes it his worst showing to date.

There’s a possibility that this is all coincidental. Even Max Verstappen expects to get slower with age, and Hamilton has just turned 40, making him the second-oldest driver on the grid.

• READ MORE: Five worst moments of Lewis Hamilton’s F1 career including Chinese GP woe and Italian GP disaster

But even Mercedes engineer Andrew Shovlin has explained, via The Race, that Hamilton can’t ‘attack’ corners the way he likes in this generation of machinery.

Thus, he will be overjoyed to hear that one F1 driver has privately told The Athletic’s Luke Smith that the 2026 cars will be completely different. The figure in question has already been active on the simulator.

He called it a ‘refreshing’ experience and said it would require a brand-new approach oriented around ‘energy management’ and ‘active aerodynamics’. The batteries will account for around 50% of the car’s power output next season, and moveable wings will replace DRS.

The early rumours about the 2026 Ferrari F1 car

This handling reset could be exactly what Hamilton needs to relaunch his career at the last. But another key question follows: will the Ferrari be competitive?

It’s naturally early to say. The SF-26, as it may well be called, won’t hit the track until January, and even the first test in Barcelona takes place behind closed doors.

But F1 experts believe Ferrari’s engine will be a class leader, alongside Mercedes. This could be crucial in determining the pecking order.

Indeed, Aston Martin designer Adrian Newey fears F1 will be an engine formula in 2026. It sounds as if the pieces are coming together for Hamilton to be competitive, but if so, he will have to prove that he’s still at the level to win a championship.