Lewis Hamilton urges Ferrari to ‘turn up the heat’ against Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton has called on Ferrari to 'turn up the heat' in battle.
Lewis Hamilton has urged Ferrari to “turn up the heat” in its pursuit of Mercedes, with both of his former teams having been on a strong run of form.
Mercedes flew out of the blocks in 2026 and, though Hamilton and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc have taken a win apiece this year, McLaren has also seen a surge forward of late, with Lando Norris having won the last two races, either side of the summer break.
Lewis Hamilton sends ‘turn up the heat’ message with Ferrari behind Mercedes
Ferrari heads to its spiritual home next weekend at Monza, with Leclerc’s 2024 victory at the Temple of Speed having been the Scuderia’s first win at the Italian Grand Prix since Leclerc’s previous triumph in 2019.
Hamilton dropped to third in the Drivers’ standings after the Dutch Grand Prix, and while he is level on points with George Russell, the Mercedes driver sits ahead due to having more race victories so far in 2026.
Ferrari has spent much of the first half of the season placing a heavy emphasis on developing the SF-26, bringing upgrades to almost every race so far this year.
Hamilton highlighted this work ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, too, saying he is “really proud” of how Ferrari has improved and dubbed the team ‘innovators’ for its work in bringing new parts.Lewis Hamilton urges Ferrari to ‘turn up the heat’ against Mercedes
When it comes to taking further steps, though, the seven-time World Champion highlighted that, while the team can be pleased with how it matches up overall this year, there is still more to be done to topple Mercedes on a regular basis.
“We’re in a much different place than we than we have been in the past, obviously in the last year,” Hamilton told PlanetF1.com and accredited media.
“We’re still second in the Constructors’ Championship. We’ve got a lot of positives to take from this first half, but the next ones, we really need to turn up the heat if we’re going to have any chance of beating these guys.”
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On the other side of the garage, Leclerc dubbed it “very impressive” to see how Ferrari has continued to bring upgrades into this season, with that approach set to be maintained through the second half of the year.
With other teams having spoken of a steep development curve in the 2026 season, Leclerc echoed Hamilton’s thoughts on the team looking to bring new parts as often as possible, with every update bringing lap time improvements.
“We’ve had a very aggressive approach this year compared to others,” Leclerc said.
“I believe first in terms of innovation, and I think this is a very positive sign to show that we are innovating and getting out of our way to try and find solutions around the regulations.
“Second, the very aggressive plan of bringing upgrades. I think production has done an incredible job for that first half of the season to work flat out in order for us to receive the parts as early as possible, and it’s making a lot of difference.
“On a year like this where we are so early in the development, every upgrade you bring makes such a big difference, so we’ll continue pushing like that for that second part of the season.”
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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