There is great excitement in Formula 1 about Lewis Hamilton’s performance, which demonstrates a level of motivation not seen for years. Throughout 2026, the driver has expressed increasing optimism, to the point of envisioning the possibility of winning the world title, especially after securing second place in the championship. This good moment marks a phase that the 41-year-old veteran has not experienced in the category since the fierce confrontation with Max Verstappen in the 2021 World Championship.
The Briton’s current second place in the World Championship represents his best position in the table since the memorable season in which he competed for the title with the Dutch Red Bull driver, who ended up winning and winning his first F1 championship.
Since 2021, Hamilton has lost prominence in Formula 1, spending the years 2022 and 2023 without any victories, something unprecedented in his career of almost two decades in the sport.
The 2022 season recorded its worst finish in the drivers’ championship, with a sixth place. This negative mark was overcome in 2024, when Lewis finished seventh in the World Championship, even though he ended a streak of almost three years without victories by triumphing in the British and Belgian Grands Prix.
“After a year like last year, there were definitely moments where I was like ‘damn, maybe it’s true that when you get to a certain point, you lose your touch’,” Hamilton said, referring to his improvement following victory in the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP.
The year 2025 marked a new chapter for Hamilton, with his move from Mercedes to Ferrari, motivated by the promise of taking the Italian team back to the top. However, what was supposed to be a “dream wedding” turned into a “nightmare”, in the pilot’s own words, especially in its first year.
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The seven-time champion once again faced an entire year without victories. The situation was even more challenging than in 2022 and 2023, as he did not even achieve one podium, while his then teammate, Charles Leclerc, achieved seven. It is important to mention that the Monaco driver also did not win in 2025 and frequently expressed dissatisfaction with the Italian car’s problems.
Despite the general problems, the perception was that Hamilton suffered more than Leclerc. In fact, the veteran’s difficulties began in 2022, with the introduction of ground effect cars in F1. With this new configuration, which generates aerodynamic pressure mainly through the floor, the seven-time champion had difficulty adapting his driving style.
He even compared cars to “boats”, alluding to the stiffer steering. In addition to the instability of the vehicles, Hamilton also suffered from jumps caused by aerodynamics, reporting intense back pain, as the Mercedes cars seemed more susceptible to bounce.
Between 2022 and 2024, the seven-time champion was unable to overcome his then teammate, George Russell. The young Englishman, who was promoted from Williams, was 24 years old when he arrived at Mercedes, 13 years younger than Lewis.
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In his first season with the team, Russell achieved an unprecedented victory at the São Paulo GP. At the same time, the veteran’s confidence was shaken. In the 68 Grands Prix they competed in together, Russell placed better in 39 of them, although the pair tied for the number of victories (34 to 34).
Additionally, Mercedes was already organizing Hamilton’s succession, developing the promising talent of Andrea Kimi Antonelli from the youth categories. With the aim of keeping Russell as a reference and promoting Antonelli, team boss Toto Wolff offered Hamilton a one-year contract with an extension option, which was signed in 2023.
Wolff justified the decision by recalling his regret for not having offered a seat to Max Verstappen in 2014, when the Dutchman was a promising 17-year-old. This scenario was one of the factors that drove Hamilton to seek a fresh start at Ferrari.
The veteran’s first year at the team in 2025 was marked by intense work and many adversities. Car failures, individual and strategy errors by Ferrari, and most importantly, persistent communication challenges with its track engineer at the time, Riccardo Adami, significantly impacted its performance.
In the mechanical aspect, one of the most constant problems was with the brakes, whose instability required the excessive use of the “lift and coast” technique, which helps save the brakes, but limits the car’s speed. The SF-25 model also faced abnormal tire degradation and overheating, frequent lack of grip and inadequate vehicle settings.
Hamilton also made his own mistakes, such as exceeding track limits and not advancing into the top 10 on the starting grid in Hungary and Belgium. He also escaped the line in qualifying in Miami, was punished for following the incorrect route in Mexico after a track run-out and crashed in the Grands Prix of Monaco, Holland and São Paulo.
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However, its challenges were not isolated. A notable difficulty in communicating with Adami became evident. One example was in Monaco, where the engineer did not warn him about Max Verstappen’s approach, resulting in Hamilton being punished for interfering with the Dutchman in qualifying.
The seven-time champion was also not warned about the amount of rain in the opening stage of the season, in Australia; his car was not fueled enough for an attack in Belgium and he received inaccurate information about his own pace in the United States.
To top it off, only in 2026 would Hamilton reveal that he had competed in 2025 with a neck and spine injury, the result of a crash during private testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with Ferrari.
It is at this point that changes manifest themselves. Since his arrival at Ferrari, Hamilton has drawn up two documents detailing the problems identified in the team’s car, with the aim of improving the 2026 project. He also made changes to the technical and employee staff, one of the most relevant being the relocation of Riccardo Adami, who was replaced by Carlos Santi as the veteran’s engineer.
For 2026, Formula 1 had planned a significant technical revolution, with innovations in cars and engines. This was the opportunity Hamilton needed to reset and try again with Ferrari. In addition to actively participating in the development of the SF-26, the team’s car for this year, the veteran promoted modifications that included the position of the cockpit and the shape of the vehicle’s steering wheel.
Ferrari took a cautious approach to January’s shakedown and pre-season testing in Bahrain the following month. However, the team gained confidence by introducing innovations such as the rear wing known as the “macarena”, which has an almost complete rotation system.
Leclerc even recorded the fastest lap of all the tests, and Ferrari came away with great impressions regarding pace and consistency. Only Mercedes, from the beginning, showed that it was determined to fight for the 2026 title, surpassing Ferrari in testing.
The season officially started for Hamilton with a fourth place in the Australian GP, a stage in which George Russell won and Leclerc came in third. However, it didn’t take long for the veteran to show his potential: in the next race, in China, Lewis achieved his first podium wearing red, finishing third in Kimi Antonelli’s unprecedented victory.
The seven-time champion continued to make adjustments, requesting the replacement of the brake discs on his SF-26 and deciding to stop using the simulator before the races. This was in addition to the updates Ferrari introduced to this season’s car in Miami and Barcelona.
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These changes preceded the team’s first victory in almost 600 days, achieved by Hamilton at the Barcelona GP. For him, it was also the end of an individual fast of almost two years without climbing the top step of the podium. The Englishman, who started the 2026 championship in fourth place, jumped to second place after second places in Canada and Monaco, before his victory in Barcelona.
He regained the position after temporarily losing it to Russell due to the Mercedes driver’s retirement. With this, Hamilton secured his position heading into the season’s summer break, a position he had not occupied since the remarkable clashes with Verstappen five years earlier.
Ferrari, although it is also second in the constructors’ championship, still cannot rival the strength of leader Mercedes. However, the team has established itself as the second power in the championship, a position assumed due to the inconsistency of competitors McLaren and Red Bull, who are racing on the outside.
A strong point of the Italian team, in contrast to Mercedes, is its reliability. Unlike its three rivals, which still face frequent breakdowns, Ferrari has safer equipment. Hamilton, for example, is the only one of the 22 drivers on the 2026 grid who has scored points in all the races held so far.
“It’s incredible, a wonderful feeling. Especially if we think about the contrast with the situation we were in last year. I’m very proud of the team, of the progress we’ve made collectively; and, in addition, I need to recognize my own efforts, the changes I made so that we could get to where we are. I’m very proud of myself for that. There’s still a lot of work to be done, we still have a mountain to climb in the second half of the season, but I’m more focused than ever and I truly believe we can fight”, celebrated Hamilton.
The Englishman’s possibilities in 2026 remain open, although the dominance of leader Kimi Antonelli seems like a difficult challenge to overcome. However, after several seasons of watching his opponents compete for victories and the title itself from afar, the seven-time champion’s star shone again, and he finally remembered his ability.