‘Why are we going to listen to you?’ – Hamilton lifts lid on fight to win Ferrari ‘trust’

Lewis Hamilton has enjoyed a sensational change of trajectory in his Ferrari career. There are various factors behind the breakthrough, but Hamilton has identified the “most important” one.

And that key puzzle piece is the “collaboration” finally being there between himself and Ferrari. Claiming Ferrari reluctance to follow his guidance amid the poor 2025 results, Hamilton revealed talks with the Ferrari chiefs about being “allies rather than foes,” with this partnership now firing on all cylinders.

Lewis Hamilton hails Ferrari ‘collaboration’ turning point

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Hamilton has rescued his Ferrari career in F1 2026.

From he and Charles Leclerc being told to “focus on driving, talk less” by Ferrari chairman John Elkann amid an underwhelming 2025, Hamilton has emerged as an F1 2026 title contender. He won his first grand prix with Ferrari in Barcelona.

Ahead of his home race, the British Grand Prix, Hamilton was asked to identify the most important elements behind his Ferrari breakthrough.

Primarily, Hamilton pointed to the “collaboration” finally being there with Ferrari.

“One being a car that I really have helped develop,” Hamilton began. “There’s items on the car – for example, front suspension – that I’d asked for last year and had it made for the sim and tested it on that.

“This year, finally got the brakes that I wanted, which was a big push. Engineer changes in my personal team, readjusting some of my team and how they connect with the team.

“Realigning myself with the higher powers within the organisation so that we’re making sure that we’re on the same track, and we’re allies rather than foes.

“And so that’s just now in a much better place, and that’s enabling us now to just move forward in synergy.

“Each weekend was a really difficult weekend last year. So naturally when you’re having that, people tend to listen to you less: ‘Why are we going to listen to you when you’re getting these results?’

“So that’s taken a long time to build that trust, and I think that trust is now there and things that I ask for get done.

“It’s a two-way street, naturally. We’re really pushing each other along and the collaboration is finally there and I think that’s the most important thing.”

Hamilton believes that Ferrari has been on a “remarkable” trajectory after last season, which saw the team go without a win.

With new regulations coming into play, Hamilton wanted to see Ferrari become the innovators in F1 2026. He says this is exactly what has happened.

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“To be back up competing in the front, from where we were last year, it’s a remarkable turnaround for us as a team,” said Hamilton.

“I’m very proud of everybody in the team. Just every weekend we’re bringing new parts, we’re constantly evolving.

“Questions I had last year were, ‘Where’s the innovation?’

“We should be the leaders. Ferrari is the biggest and the most successful team in this sport.

“It should be the team that everyone’s following, everyone should be looking at our car and to what we’re doing and think, ‘We’ve got to do the same.’

“You’ve seen that this year with the rear wing, for example. What else do we have? Oh yeah, the exhaust element that now all the other teams have. So I think that’s been great, really great to see.

“We’ve got an amazing group of people working very hard to push us forward and propel us forward, and that’s all I want to see. It’s just small increments of movement forward.”

Hamilton sits third in the drivers’ championship standings, 32 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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