Ted Kravitz thinks Lewis Hamilton has already let slip that he doesn’t like the 2026 Ferrari

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Lewis Hamilton fans have long been hoping that the 2026 regulation changes revive his F1 career. The ground-effect era has been increasingly difficult for the sport’s most successful driver.

Hamilton was beaten by Mercedes newcomer George Russell in 2022, and then again in 2024 – this time convincingly. He dropped outside the top six for the first time ever last year and is at risk of doing so again following Kimi Antonelli’s late charge.

It would be poignant if Antonelli, the youngest driver on the grid and Hamilton’s Mercedes replacement, were to dislodge him.

There’s a theory that Hamilton’s driving style doesn’t suit these cars, so the sweeping 2026 rule changes will offer a reprieve. But a recent interview has rather undermined that last beacon of optimism.

Ted Kravitz reckons Lewis Hamilton is ‘not sure’ about the 2026 F1 cars

Speaking after finishing 10th at the Las Vegas GP – a result that was later upgraded to eighth after the two McLaren cars were disqualified – Hamilton said he wasn’t ‘looking forward’ to 2026.

Sky Sports analyst Ted Kravitz called these comments ‘concerning’ on the F1 Show. Early reports claimed that Hamilton gave positive feedback on the 2026 Ferrari.

But Kravitz fears that Hamilton doesn’t ‘like’ the new way of driving. With F1 set to become almost 50% electric, ‘energy management’ will be much more important.

“He’s seen what the rest of the drivers have seen in terms of what 2026 is going to demand from the Grand Prix drivers in terms of energy management,” said Kravitz. “I’m not sure he likes it.

“If he tried the simulator and thought, ‘I like this, I like playing around with the battery and this monster acceleration, charging up the battery in weird places, my front wings going down and my rear wings going down’, then he would have said, ‘We’re looking forward to 2026, we’re going to have a good package, everybody at the power unit side of Scuderia Ferrari think we’re on target, it’s all looking good.'”

“What he’s telling us is that he’s not sure about the driving and he’s not sure about how the car and the engine are going to go. That’s the concerning thing.”

Lewis Hamilton told he won’t be finishing his career ‘in a blaze of glory’

Writing on social media in 2022, Hamilton said he would go out on his own terms at the end of a ‘masterpiece’ F1 career. But Kravitz doesn’t foresee a Hollywood conclusion.

Sebastian Vettel lost his Ferrari seat at the end of 2020 and spent his final two years in the midfield with Aston Martin. Likewise, neither Damon Hill (1999) nor Jacques Villeneuve (2006) scored a podium during their last seasons.

Kravitz says this is the way in F1 – even the greatest careers often ‘fade out’ as the driver struggles to recapture their peak form.

“The only thing Hamilton fans can cling to is when Lewis said, ‘It’s my masterpiece and I’ll decide when it’s finished’ – i.e. ‘I won’t be forced out’.

“He also said he didn’t want to end his career on a note of disappointment or failure. Of course, but hasn’t history shown us that nobody really ends their Formula 1 career in a blaze of glory with a championship win?

“It just doesn’t happen like that. Most of the time – Sebastian Vettel, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve – their careers have ended with fading out, rather than with a big explosion.”