- Lewis Hamilton has made a strong start to the 2026 Formula 1 season with Ferrari.
- A podium-less 2025 drew sharp criticism from former drivers and pundits alike.
- New regulations have given Hamilton the reset he needed to silence his doubters.
Lewis Hamilton has answered his doubters with a strong start to the 2026 Formula 1 season. He sits fourth in the drivers’ championship after three rounds with Ferrari.
The seven-time world champion, who turned 41 this year, has already matched his podium tally from the whole of 2025, a season he described as the worst of his career.
His revival comes after a year in which several former drivers publicly questioned whether his time at the front of the grid was over.
Hamilton joined Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season in what was billed as one of the most anticipated pairings in the sport’s history. The reality, however, fell well short of the hype.
A season of suffering
Hamilton’s one bright moment in 2025 came early, at round two in Shanghai, where he took sprint pole and won from the front.
He spoke at the time about how he was genuinely connecting with the SF-25 that weekend. It did not last. A wholesale suspension change backfired on the team, and both drivers suffered for it.
A decision to freeze development midway through the year and redirect resources toward the 2026 regulations left Hamilton racing a car he had little hand in shaping.
By the time the circus reached Las Vegas near the end of the year, Hamilton had reached his lowest point. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, he was direct:
“It’s been the worst season ever. No matter how much I try, it keeps getting worse.”
He eventually finished sixth in the drivers’ standings, 86 points behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, and became the first Ferrari driver in 44 years to go a full season without a podium finish.
The team’s struggles compounded his own. Ferrari slipped to fourth in the constructors’ standings and failed to win a single race.
The gap between them and champions McLaren grew from 14 points in 2024 to 435 in 2025.
The critics circle
Hamilton’s troubles drew a public response from several voices in the paddock and beyond.
Former Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, speaking to Sky F1, suggested Hamilton was “stuck” and that his difficulties at Ferrari were beginning to damage his legacy.
Rosberg went further, saying, “I’m sure he’d like to quit. But he can’t, that would be a huge loss of face.”
Ralf Schumacher went further still. In multiple interviews with Sky Deutschland, the former driver argued that Ferrari should replace Hamilton with Oliver Bearman for 2026.
“Lewis needs to take a good look at himself; he’s got no one else to be angry with,” Schumacher said.
He added that, at Hamilton’s age, adapting to a new driving style was unlikely, and that the chances of the incoming regulations suiting him were “very low.”
Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert, speaking to NewBettingSites, said that recent interviews showed a man who seemed “lost and dejected.”
Perhaps most pointed of all was the anonymous end-of-season vote among team principals for the best drivers of 2025. Hamilton did not make the top ten, a list he had last topped in 2020.
Hamilton’s response, delivered after the Abu Dhabi finale, was sharp. Told about Rosberg’s comments by PlanetF1.com and other media, he said:
“I won’t say anything to them. None of them have done what I’ve done. They’re not even on my level.”
The 2026 reset
Formula 1’s new technical regulations arrived for 2026 and handed Hamilton a blank page.
The rules brought in smaller and lighter cars, active aerodynamics, and a new power unit splitting energy equally between electrical and biofuel sources. Every team started again.
Hamilton used the winter to embed himself more deeply at Ferrari. He spent extended periods living near the Fiorano test track and took an active role in shaping the SF-26 from the ground up.
He described the process to RacingNews365 with notable enthusiasm, saying: “It’s really nice to have started the season, and we don’t have bouncing.”
The bouncing that had troubled many cars since 2022, including Ferrari’s, is gone under the new rules. The results have followed.
Hamilton finished fourth in Australia, narrowly missing the podium behind Leclerc. In China, he reversed that order and crossed the line third.
It was his first full grand prix podium for Ferrari after 26 race starts with the team. The moment carried real weight for him. Reflecting on it to F1.com, he said:
“I’ve been trying to make that podium for so long, I’ve never had to work so hard just to get a podium. So I was very, very grateful, and it felt like the first, even though I have been fortunate to have had quite a few.”
Hamilton strikes back at ‘certain individuals’
With form restored, Hamilton turned his attention back to those who had written him off.
Speaking to F1, he acknowledged that hard seasons invite scrutiny. “When you have difficult years, there are a lot of questions all over the place,” he said.
He then targeted the specific voices that had been most dismissive.
“Ultimately, I saw certain individuals who haven’t had anywhere near the success that I’ve had, just talking negatively, as they continue to do,” he said.
The satisfaction in his follow-up was clear:
“And it felt great to be able to come back, to come into this season, and start strong, to be able to show that I still have what it takes to compete at the front.”
Hamilton also explained how the new regulations have changed his working relationship with Ferrari in a practical sense.
He told F1 that the 2025 season had made detailed development conversations pointless because the car was already fixed in its direction. This year is different.
“Last year, we couldn’t do that, because there was no point having those meetings for the car that we were in, but at least we got to have those and plan for this year,” he said.
Hamilton has had support from outside the garage, too. Former Ferrari driver Jean Alesi, speaking to RacingNews365, pushed back firmly against the criticism.
“It’s still OK for him to be part of the development of a big project,” Alesi said. Asked whether Hamilton still has the hunger, he was unequivocal: “Yes, sure. He won seven world titles.”
Where things stand
Three rounds into the 2026 season, Hamilton has finished fourth, third and sixth. Ferrari sits second in the constructors’ standings with 90 points, 45 behind leaders Mercedes.
In the drivers’ championship, Hamilton is fourth, 31 points behind the leader, the 19-year-old driver for Silver Arrows, Kimi Antonelli.
Mercedes, with Antonelli and George Russell, has set the early benchmark. Ferrari is their closest rival. Hamilton knows a three-race sample means little in a season of 24 (reduced to 22).
But the foundations he has built this winter, the factory visits, the development meetings, the months spent closer to the team than ever before, have begun to show in his results.
For those who called time on his career, the answer so far has been unmistakable.
