Is Lewis Hamilton back? Not so fast

Finally, at the 26th time of asking, Lewis Hamilton secured his first podium finish as a Ferrari driver at the Chinese Grand Prix.

It inevitably resulted in breathless talk that he is back to his best. But might it just be the first step towards a happier ending to his F1 career? And may he ultimately regret walking away from the Mercedes team fast emerging as Formula 1’s dominant force?

The mixed feelings behind Lewis Hamilton’s first Ferrari podium

A version of this article originally appeared in PlanetF1.com’s conclusions from the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix

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Is Lewis Hamilton ready to be wonderful?

That was the question posed by this website in the days after his move to Ferrari was announced in early 2024.

Being wonderful required Hamilton to let go, accepting that time was ticking, he was no longer the driver he used to be and that his only shot at an eighth world championship came and went in the controversy of Abu Dhabi 2021.

It asked him to embrace a different, slightly reduced role at Ferrari, conceding that he would be behind Charles Leclerc more often than not in return for becoming more cherished, more appreciated, as retirement slowly honed into view.

More than anything, it offered Hamilton the chance to change the tone of the final years of his career, ending his time in F1 on a happier, more fulfilling note than his final years at Mercedes had threatened to provide.

Think back to Fernando Alonso being wonderful in his first season with Aston Martin in 2023, basking in the Indian summer of his career, and you get the idea.

Yet try as he might, Lewis couldn’t be wonderful last year.

How could he be when the main problem he found at Ferrari – a badly born, fundamentally flawed car with its big weakness baked in for the season – was the same he encountered in his latter Mercedes days?

When, far from the fresh start he had been looking for, 2025 was merely a continuation of the same old problems of the previous three years?

Little wonder that Hamilton often looked so haunted, so cursed, as his latest nightmare unfolded last season.

This year?

Already, even after just two races, this year – let’s call it Being Wonderful: Take Two – feels different.

For the first time since 2021, Hamilton has a car he can work with – really work with – again.

He should win races in 2026. Probably not as many as Leclerc. Probably not enough to become a factor in the title battle.

But enough to rediscover his self-worth and repair whatever damage the last few years have done to his reputation.

Enough to end his career, presumably at the end of this season or next, in a fashion more befitting of his achievements.

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Was his first podium for Ferrari on Sunday a sign, as some have already claimed, that Hamilton is back to his best in 2026?

Or was it simply the first real glimpse of Lewis being wonderful?

This is, and always was, most likely to be the limit of his ambitions as a Ferrari driver.

This, the thought may have crossed his mind in China, would be a better way to bow out.

Yet Hamilton would not be human if he did not glance to his right on the podium in Shanghai, see the Mercedes drivers celebrating a second consecutive one-two finish in 2026 and ask if it was all worth it.

There was a suspicion back in 2024 that his move to Ferrari was, at least in part, an emotional spasm, a decision rooted in the raw frustration of his consecutive winless seasons at Mercedes in 2022/23.

With whispers of a significant Mercedes advantage for 2026 even back then, though, would he not have been better to keep calm, stick it out and wait patiently for the rules to swing back his way?

It is not a question he would take kindly to – see how he would flatly dismiss any suggestion that he might regret his decision to join Ferrari in 2024/25 – but surely there would be some pain if the team he walked away from ended up dominating this season.

It made for one of the great F1 moments in Shanghai when Hamilton joined his successor at Mercedes on the podium on the day he achieved a landmark result with Ferrari.

There was something almost paternal about the pride he took from Antonelli’s pole and victory, as though Kimi’s success had elevated his own sense of achievement.

Yet, deep down, Lewis must wonder if it should have been him in that Mercedes – him just starting to dream of the 2026 title – instead.

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