Hamilton earning Ferrari’s trust: the key to his 2026 rise
The seven-time champion opens up about how poor results made life harder inside Maranello, and why 2026 finally feels different.
Hamilton earning Ferrari’s trust was one of the defining challenges of his troubled debut season in red, and the seven-time world champion has now opened up about just how hard that battle really was.
Hamilton earning Ferrari’s trust when results weren’t there
Lewis Hamilton made one of the most high-profile moves in F1 history when he left Mercedes to join Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season. But the dream quickly became a struggle. Hamilton endured a turbulent and disappointing debut season with Ferrari following his blockbuster move from Mercedes at the end of 2024.
The numbers told a painful story. The qualifying battle between the teammates worked out in Charles Leclerc’s favour, 23 to 7, with an average gap of 0.254 seconds over Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton called his first season at Ferrari, in which he finished sixth in the championship, a nightmare.
In that environment, Hamilton found it hard to push his ideas through. Speaking ahead of the British Grand Prix, he explained that he had to fight to earn Ferrari’s trust in order to get the changes he wanted for the team’s 2026 Formula 1 car. The core of his message was simple: when you are not delivering results, people stop listening. That is a tough reality for any driver, let alone a seven-time world champion.
Hamilton earning Ferrari’s trust also meant rebuilding relationships at the top of the organisation. He spoke about realigning himself “with the high powers within the organisation” so that everyone was “on the same track” and “allies rather than foes,” describing that relationship as now being “in a much, much better place” and enabling the team to “move forwards in synergy.”
The specific changes Hamilton pushed for
Hamilton detailed that finally having elements of the car developed under his instruction has aided his step forward, telling media including RacingNews365: “One [factor] being the car that I really have helped develop. There are items on the car, for example, front suspension, that I’d asked for last year.”
Brakes were another key battleground. Hamilton revealed he “had it made for the sim and tested it and we brought that this year,” adding that he “finally got the brakes that I wanted, which was a big push.” Hamilton had Carbon Industrie brake discs and pads fitted to his SF-26 in 2026, having used the same supplier throughout his time at Mercedes.
Former F1 champion Damon Hill summed up the situation well. Hill claimed that Ferrari would have been “silly” to ignore Hamilton’s feedback after making such a significant financial investment in the seven-time champion, and outlined how Hamilton had reshaped the team’s machinery to suit his driving style.
Hamilton earning Ferrari’s trust pays off in 2026
The results in 2026 prove that Hamilton earning Ferrari’s trust was not just a personal challenge. It had a direct, measurable impact on performance. Having gone podium-less for the first time in his career in 2025, Hamilton has already appeared on the rostrum four times this season, including taking a spectacular first victory with Ferrari at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s fine form has seen him emerge as a potential title challenger, sitting third in the drivers’ championship and just 46 points behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli. He has also enjoyed a run of out-performing Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc, who convincingly won the intra-team battle last year.
The 2026 regulations also played a part. Hamilton grew up in an era when mechanical grip was his friend, and he famously detested the unpredictable rear-end instability of the early ground-effect era. Now the 2026 cars rely on more conventional suspension geometry, and a predictable aerodynamic balance plays directly into Hamilton’s historic strengths.
For Ferrari, the story is still developing. Hamilton revealed the extent of Ferrari’s straight-line speed deficit to Mercedes’ power unit, and described a difficult Austrian Grand Prix as a “reality check” for Ferrari, pointing to Ferrari’s top speed deficit to Mercedes as a key weakness. You can read more about the Austrian GP 2026 race report here.
What comes next for Hamilton and Ferrari?
Hamilton has silenced plenty of doubters. The improved behaviour of the SF-26 appears to be better aligned with Hamilton’s driving style, and this combination of enhanced car performance and a more settled mindset is allowing Hamilton to operate with greater confidence.
The British Grand Prix at Silverstone is next on the calendar, a circuit where Hamilton has won a record nine times. Hamilton will undoubtedly be strong at one of his favourite circuits this weekend in Silverstone, but Leclerc is expected to push him hard, so long as the SF-26 holds together.
One thing is clear. Hamilton earning Ferrari’s trust was the quiet work that made the 2026 results possible. The hard conversations, the late nights in the simulator, the patience during a season of pain. Now those efforts are showing on the timing screens.
For the full official details on Hamilton and Ferrari’s 2026 programme, check the official Ferrari F1 website. For the latest standings and race information, visit Formula1.com.
