How Lewis Hamilton is shaping Ferrari SF-26 development behind the scenes

Lewis Hamilton is enjoying life in the Ferrari SF-26, and the fact that he can feel elements in the design which he requested from the team.

With an exciting development war to come, Hamilton has been holding valuable meetings with Ferrari personnel, and has been messaging Ferrari’s head of aerodynamics. This reveal comes after Hamilton was seen checking out the Mercedes W17 cars at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Hamilton guides Ferrari SF-26 improvements with rival car insights

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Mercedes has emerged as the leading team of Formula 1’s new era in 2026. But, through the opening rounds, Ferrari, and more recently McLaren, have been nipping at the heels of the Silver Arrows.

Now into his second season at Ferrari, Hamilton has cut a far happier figure, and has been finding more joy on the track. Having gone the entirety of 2025 without a podium, he opened his Ferrari account with a P3 in China.

“It’s started out a really good year, and the energy within the team and just how we’re all operating together, it’s been really, really positive,” Hamilton declared in a Formula 1 interview, released over the Japanese Grand Prix race weekend.

“I’m enjoying driving the new car, and it’s a car that I got to play a heavy role in helping develop last year through the simulator running. So it’s nice to see some of the things that I asked for come through onto the design of the car, and get to feel them, and feel them positively.”

For Hamilton, the ground effect era, which ceased to be with the arrival of F1 2026, brought some highs, but a lot of challenges.

Those cars proved notoriously tricky to develop for some teams, especially when it came to virtual data correlating with on-track performance.

Hamilton believes that F1 2026 brings with it a return of the “pure car performance” development war. As part of that, he has been holding meetings with various Ferrari departments to help steer them in the right direction.

“It’s really nice that we’ve started the season and we don’t have bouncing,” Hamilton declared, “because obviously, that last generation was a nightmare for everyone with bouncing, apart from maybe the Red Bulls.

“So that’s one thing out of the way, and it comes then back down to just pure car performance.

“Everyone’s starting from scratch, and it’s a big reset for everybody. So then it’s a race to the finish line. It’s like a race to see who can develop and push the team and grow faster and stronger, and with more stamina through the season, to continue to pile on performance to a car.

“That makes it so much more exciting then. You’re seeing the development coming through.

“I was at the factory last week, and this is the time that you can go to the different departments, and you can hold meetings with people saying, ‘Hey, what are you focusing on here? These are the areas that I’m really struggling with the car. Can you put some more resource here? This is exactly what we need’.

“Last year we couldn’t do that, because there was no point going and having those meetings for the car that we were in, but at least we got to have those in plan for this year.”

Hamilton also revealed that he has been exchanging messages with Ferrari’s head of aero, which would be Diego Tondi.

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Hamilton has been flagging up innovations to Tondi which he has seen on other cars.

After the China Sprint race, Hamilton was filmed by the Formula 1 social media team having a look around the Mercedes W17 cars driven by George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

Russell won that 100km race ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton.

“Through the last couple of weeks, and even the last race, I’m messaging with the head of aero, for example,” said Hamilton.

“I’m like, ‘Hey, have you seen this, have you seen that on that car?’ So the communication is really great.

“Everyone’s flat out pushing, and it’s honestly really, really inspiring to see, whenever you work within a great organisation, and you go and see back at the factory, and you see in the office, just everyone head down, just flat out, pushing for every millisecond.

“Those are the bits that I love the most about this sport, and that I wish people got to see. You go back and you get inspired, and you come back, you’re like, ‘Hey, the guys are really on it’.

“So I’m excited for the next couple of months.”

F1 2026 will resume with the Miami Grand Prix. The impromptu April break allows precious time for the likes of Ferrari to reflect on the season so far, and prepare to re-hit the ground running in early May.

Ferrari sits second in the early Constructors’ Championship standings, 45 points behind Mercedes.

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