Ferrari deficit to double? Lewis Hamilton braced for ‘unprecedented’ British GP

Lewis Hamilton fears that Ferrari’s deficit to Mercedes could be doubled at this weekend’s British Grand Prix due to the high energy demands of the F1 2026 cars.

And he has warned that Silverstone will feel like “a completely different track” with energy requirements set to strip corners like Copse and the Maggotts/Becketts section of their challenge.

Lewis Hamilton fears Ferrari deployment deficit could double at British GP

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Hamilton’s victory at last month’s Barcelona Grand Prix sparked suggestions that the 41-year-old could challenge for a record eighth world championship in the F1 2026 season.

However, Ferrari’s disappointing Austrian Grand Prix performance – which saw Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc finish fifth and eighth respectively – quietened talk of a potential title tilt.

As reported by PlanetF1.com this week, Hamilton highlighted the deployment of the Ferrari engine as a weakness, calling for the team to “push really, really hard” for improvements.

Hamilton is going in search of a record 10th British Grand Prix win this weekend, with his last victory at Silverstone coming in his final season with Mercedes in 2024.

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Appearing in Thursday’s FIA press conference, however, the seven-time world champion warned that the energy requirements at Silverstone could see Ferrari’s straight-line deficit to Mercedes double this weekend.

Put to him that he viewed Austria as a reality check after the highs of Spain, Hamilton told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “Obviously we had so many great performances before, but the fact is – as you could see it in the race – we lose quite a lot of time.

“I think it’s [something] like four tenths a lap we lose in a straight line, so it’s hard to recover that through the corners.

“I think we’ve got a great car fundamentally. We’re just going to continue to work – maximise what we can and get the best results we can, score as many points as we can – until we can close that deficit.”

Asked if he is more confident of victory at his home race, Hamilton revealed that the MGU-K unit – the kinetic energy recovery system which provides the car’s electrical power – will be “switched off” for most of the lap at Silverstone.

This, he fears, will result in Mercedes’ advantage over Ferrari ballooning this weekend.

Hamilton said: “It’s not that I’m not confident, it’s the fact that we’ve got long straights.

“I think this is going to be the most unprecedented weekend in terms of the power deployment.

“All us drivers are talking, have been talking on the driver’s chat [about] just how poor the power is going to be through this track.

“We run out of battery power, there’s only a few corners to charge the engine, so the K will be switched off for a large portion of the lap.

“That’s where we will struggle probably the most. The deficit could be twice as big.”

Asked about the general effect of deployment at Silverstone this weekend, Hamilton warned that the second half of the lap will be especially problematic with the F1 2026 cars.

He explained: “Honestly, I think it’s going to be huge.

“If you look at the speed traces, we start losing deployment going into Copse.

“Normally the engine is screaming as you’re going into Copse and you’re holding on for dear life as you go through there flat out.

“This year the engine will be coasting down, most likely we’ll be downshifting to seventh from eighth whilst full throttle, trying to keep the engine revs higher.

“It’ll be a long, long straight from [Turns] 9 to 10 [between Copse and Maggotts/Becketts] with no deployment basically.

“Maggotts and Becketts is not going to feel the same, because I think you have to lift and coast or something through there for a period of time.

“So it’s just a completely different track.

“We’ll see tomorrow [Friday]. No doubt we’ll still enjoy it through certain elements of the track where you’re not power limited.

“But the best part of the track is those [high-speed corners like] Maggotts and Becketts and Copse and Stowe.

“And in those places, the power is just dropping. I hope it’s something they can rectify for next year.”

Following complaints from drivers and spectators at the start of the F1 2026 season, the FIA announced a series of changes from May’s Miami Grand Prix intended to reduce the impact of energy management.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed last month that a change to the engine rules will to be made for 2027.

The ratio between internal combustion and electrical power will be changed from 50:50 in 2026 to 58:42 for next season before a switch to 60:40 in 2028.

It remains unclear whether the changes for 2027 will have a noticeable effect on the action.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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