Why Hamilton prefers F1 2026 cars over ground effect era

Having sampled F1 2026 machinery for the first time in Barcelona, Lewis Hamilton declared the new-generation cars “more enjoyable” than the ground effect machines left behind.

Hamilton endured a difficult first season with Ferrari under ground effect regulations in 2025, but initial feedback on the SF-26 revealed sharper handling compared to last year’s machinery.

Lewis Hamilton on F1 2026 cars: ‘More enjoyable’

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Sweeping changes to the chassis and engine regulations arrive for F1 2026, creating a formula vastly different to the previous ground effect ruleset.

Hamilton was unable to challenge for a record eighth World Championship in that era, and suffered a very disappointing first season with Ferrari, in what was the final year with F1 ground effect cars in 2025.

His first experience at the wheel of an F1 2026 car took place in Barcelona, where an unofficial five-day test took place from 26-30 January. The lap times were not made public, but Hamilton was widely reported to have set the fastest time of that test, a 1:16.348.

Hamilton liked what he felt in the Ferrari SF-26 underneath him.

“In terms of just understanding the car and the balance, we have a lot less downforce than previous years,” he told the Formula 1 website immediately following the test.

“The car generation is actually a little bit more fun to drive. It’s oversteery and snappy and sliding, but it’s a little bit easier to catch.

“Yeah, I would definitely say more enjoyable.”

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Hamilton will be back behind the wheel of the SF-26 in Bahrain, host of the two official pre-season tests from 11-13 and 18-20 February.

From there, the season-opening Australian Grand Prix will take place on 8 March.

Hamilton was asked to detail what his schedule looks like following Barcelona.

“Quite busy,” he confirmed. “We still have a lot of promotional days that we have next week, so next week’s really mostly a promotional period.

“Obviously, the team will be digesting everything that’s happened this week and taking all our notes from Charles [Leclerc] and I, and trying to rework, remap and reconfigure things for the Bahrain test, setting up a plan.

“We will have meetings in between our long shoot days. So we have big shoot days next week. Charles and I, we do them all together, but I think they’re like, eight or 10-hour shoot days. So not crazy, but still.

“In between them, there’s training in the morning. Though, Charles doesn’t like to get up early, so I don’t think he’ll be training! And then the shoots. Then we have the meeting with the engineers in between. So it’s full days, so it should be fun.

“And then sim day, and then just training, getting prepared for the test. And then we’ll be away for a couple weeks. Then we come back, there’ll be a couple more promo days, and then probably sim preparation for the race.”

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