Lewis Hamilton offers personal verdict on much-improved F1 2026

Lewis Hamilton rated his season so far “slightly above average”, but is not getting drawn into talk of a title battle moving forward.

The seven-time world champion sits second in the Drivers’ standings at the halfway stage, but Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli holds a hefty 50-point lead as Formula 1 takes its mandated summer break.

Lewis Hamilton dubs F1 2026 performances ‘slightly above average’

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Hamilton got off the mark for race victories as a Ferrari driver with an emotional win in Barcelona in June and, with four other podiums and no finishes outside the top six, consistency has been the name of the game in his campaign so far.

He sits clear of both George Russell and Charles Leclerc in the standings at the moment, with the Ferrari duo holding one win apiece so far this season.

While championship leader Antonelli has taken six wins to date, reliability got in his way in Barcelona before dropping out of the points with a late penalty at Silverstone.

Rating his season as “slightly above average” to PlanetF1.com and others in Budapest, Hamilton is staying in the moment regarding what might happen in future.

“I’m not thinking about the second part [of the season],” he said.

“I’m thinking about just this weekend, one race at a time.

“I’m just trying to figure out how I can maximise each weekend. I’m genuinely not thinking about [future] races from here.”

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Few would argue 2026 has been a much-improved campaign for both Ferrari and Hamilton, with the team having been through a winless 2025 and a fourth-place finish in the Constructors’ standings.

Hamilton pointed to his and the team’s consistency in bringing points every weekend as a positive from the season so far, and that Mercedes’ advantage at both Spa and Silverstone was not as much as expected, given high-speed circuits are not believed to be a strength of the SF-26.

Looking back on performances so far, he added: “Every weekend, the goal is to try and attract the most from the weekend, and I would say we had a couple of really good weekends.

“We got to Silverstone and started out strong and one step in the wrong direction. It kind of took us away from competing for a win, and then same thing [at Spa], so that just shows how it can sometimes go in this sport – but I’m still grateful that we’ve had consistency and we’re still scoring points.

“But when I meant that we could have, I think out of pure pace, I think the frontrunners weren’t that… like normally, Kimi is so fast he pulls away, and he wasn’t like ballistic, and we were a lot closer than we had thought.

“So, to go to two circuits that we thought that would be quite far behind and be as close as we were, had Charles win a Grand Prix [Silverstone], and in second [in Belgium], I think is a real good show, and we’re moving in the right direction.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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