Martin Brundle has expressed confidence in Ferrari after Lewis Hamilton’s maiden win for the team at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Ferrari hadn’t taken victory since the 2024 Mexico City GP, through the now-departed Carlos Sainz, and didn’t appear especially close before a major upgrade in Barcelona. Previously the best of the rest behind the dominant Mercedes, they caught the Silver Arrows by surprise with their pace at round seven.
Hamilton gave them their first front-row qualifying of the year on Saturday, only a matter of hundredths behind George Russell, and Mercedes think he was quick enough to win the race on merit, even without assistance from a VSC.
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Martin Brundle: Ferrari are outdeveloping Mercedes and McLaren
Live on Sky Sports F1 before the race, Brundle was asked to explain Hamilton’s turnaround. He didn’t score a podium at all in 2025 but has now managed four in seven races, including a victory.
Brundle says Hamilton’s greater comfort in the new generation of F1 cars has played a part, but also thinks this year’s Ferrari is fundamentally better. The SF-25 was only good enough for fourth in the championship.
While Ferrari’s Miami GP upgrade was an initial disappointment, their second major package of the year in Barcelona delivered immediate gains.
“Ferrari have done a very good job with their updates,” said Brundle (14/06, 12:41). “Lewis clearly likes the 2026 cars much more so than the ground-effect ones we’ve had in the last few seasons.
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“The whole paddock are very impressed with what Ferrari keeps bringing along, and keeps working.”
In-season development has been regarded as a key weakness for Ferrari during their 18-year title drought, but Brundle thinks they are finally seeing the fabled ‘correlation’ between their factory tools and the race track.
This, of course, will be crucial to sustaining the levels shown in Barcelona and keeping Hamilton in regular victory contention.
“Ferrari are out-developing Mercedes and McLaren at the moment,” he said after the race. “Whatever they’re bringing – and they had a new floor here – it’s working. That’s the key bit.
“They’ve got correlation with all of their wind tunnel, the stopwatch, the drivers’ feeling. It’s really working well for Ferrari and bodes well for the rest of this season.”
In addition to their recent aerodynamic improvements, Ferrari will have access to two engine upgrades this year through the controversial ADUO mechanism in the 2026 regulations.
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