‘My DNA is in this car’: Lewis Hamilton revved up for Ferrari in new F1 season
The seven-time world champion is upbeat for 2026 and insists he is ‘more connected to this car for sure’
Lewis Hamilton believes he is in the “best place” he has been at Ferrari, with a new car that carries his “DNA”.
The seven-time champion failed to take a podium place for the first time and finished sixth in the drivers’ championship, behind his teammate Charles Leclerc in fifth in his debut season. By the end, he was clearly disenchanted, describing his first year at Ferrari as a “nightmare”.
The Scuderia have looked promising in pre-season, and in Bahrain at the third and final test Hamilton, who has regrouped over the winter, presented a buoyant figure, optimistic about the forthcoming challenge.
“I’ve gone through quite a bit and left everything, all of last year, behind me,” he said. “I spent a lot of time rebuilding over this winter, refocusing, really getting my body and my mind to a much better place. I generally feel personally in the best place that I’ve been in a long time with rearranging things within my team.”
Hamilton joined Ferrari at the end of a stable period of regulations and with the car already designed but this season, having been in place with the team, he has had the chance to help shape the new model.
“Last year we were locked into a car that ultimately I inherited,” he said. “This is a car that I’ve been able to be a part of developing on the simulator for the last 10 months, eight months and so like a bit of my DNA is within it, so I’m more connected to this one for sure.”
The British driver was also clear that, despite the travails of 2025, he was committed to a long‑term project at Ferrari. “My belief in the team is still absolutely the same. I understand the faith in this team and what they’re capable of and that’s why I joined the team.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be an overnight thing where we’d have success immediately, that’s why I signed a longer deal, because I knew it was a process and I feel like we’ve also learned a huge amount from last year as a team.”
The FIA, the sport’s governing body, will attempt to end the row over Mercedes’s controversial use of a loophole in the regulations involving the compression ratio of their engine. It is believed Mercedes have stolen a march on their rivals by exploiting a higher ratio than the 16:1 mandated when the engine is running because it is measured when “cold”, or at ambient temperatures.
The other engine manufacturers have been aggrieved at what they see as an unfair advantage, if one that is still within the letter of the regulations. After a meeting of the power unit advisory committee, the FIA has allowed a proposal that as of 1 August – after 13 of the season’s 24 races – the rules would be changed so that the compression ratio would also be measured at a representative operating temperature of 130°C. The vote on the proposal will be decided in the next 10 days and requires a super-majority of five of the seven on the committee, which consists of the FIA, F1 and the five manufacturers, Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Audi and Honda.