Lewis Hamilton reveals key Ferrari change behind his F1 2026 resurgence

ZANDVOORT – Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari’s renewed spirit of innovation, which he pushed for last season, has been key to his F1 2026 resurgence.

After a difficult first season with Ferrari, this year Hamilton has emerged as the Scuderia’s strongest driver as he chases Kimi Antonelli in the standings in a bid to win a record-breaking eighth world title.

Lewis Hamilton explains Ferrari’s innovation push behind his 2026 success

Hamilton, who clinched his first victory in red at the Barcelona Grand Prix, trails the Mercedes driver by 50 points with a maximum of 316 points still in play.

It is a notable turnaround from last season when Hamilton failed to reach the podium and finished a distant P6 in the Drivers’ standings.

Earlier this year, Hamilton revealed that he had been “banging my head against a wall” throughout the 2025 championship as he questioned Ferrari’s place in Formula 1’s development war.

“Last year,” he said, “I was asking: ‘Where is our innovation?’ Ferrari should be the innovators, the ones everyone else copies.”

This year, Ferrari has answered his call.

Not only did the team unveil a radical exhaust wing concept, with Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull following on with designs of their own, but it also delivered the ‘Macarena’ rear wing, which has been copied by Red Bull and McLaren.

Said to have arguably the best chassis on the grid, Ferrari is in the fight for both championship titles with Hamilton second in the Drivers’ standings, while Ferrari is 72 behind Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship.

“It’s a combination of a lot of things,” Hamilton told the media, including PlanetF1.com, at Zandvoort.

“I think we made a lot of changes to the car, and so it’s not just one thing, it’s all the pieces of the puzzle.

“We moved a lot of things around. Been a lot of changes, whether it’s in engineering, our processes, the design of the car is a lot different obviously in this new generation, but we made a lot of changes and I think we’re in a better place with that.

“I think we’ve got a great collaboration now. It took a good year for us to get in sync, but I think we’re there.”

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That collaboration between the Briton and his new team included Hamilton pushing Ferrari to become innovators in Formula 1, and not just followers.

Hamilton says the team’s results, which include two race wins, prove that it has worked.

“I think that collaboration I was talking about, we’ve been moving in the right direction collectively, and the things that I’d asked for ended up getting done over time,” he explained.

“And you know, I feel like now we’ve had the results so it shows that it works, and feel like we’ve got the right formula. So now we’re kind of doubling down on that, continuing to improve.

“Last year one of the things I said was Ferrari should be like the innovators, and everyone should be following it.

“And this year we’re innovators. You know, people have been following our wing designs, the exhaust system.

“I just think we’re just going in the right direction. I think we’re in a real sweet spot. We’re just going to continue to build on this foundation that we built.”

However, the seven-time world champion concedes there are still areas that Ferrari needs to improve.

“We still have to continue to progress in our car, we’ve definitely got lots of areas that we need to improve, but we’ve come a long way,” he said. “I’m really proud of the steps that we have taken coming into the season and through the season.

“I think it’s been a massive challenge for every team. Every team’s made mistakes naturally with new regulations, and yeah, we’ve just got to continue to chase.

“I think everyone’s really buoyed up, or everyone’s really focused within the team. A lot of belief in the team, which is really amazing to see, and we’re continuously like adding performance and pushing the car forward.

“So there’s not really much more that I can ask from… I don’t think I can ask for any more from the team except we just got in the second half of the season to try to execute that.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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