Lewis Hamilton said he heads into 2026 “personally in the best place” he’s been in a long time with a Ferrari car which he feels has more of his “DNA” in its design.
Hamilton endured a bitterly underwhelming debut season with Ferrari in 2025 in which he failed to score a single grand prix podium.
Ferrari has had an encouraging start to preseason testing so far and Hamilton has seemed to be in great spirits, a stark contrast to how he was for much of last year as his form spiralled away from him.
Hamilton has credited an off-season digital detox for his refreshed approach, as well as his growing familiarity with the Italian team.
“I’ve obviously gone through quite a bit and you know left everything … all of last year’s behind me,” Hamilton said in Bahrain on Wednesday during a break in F1’s second preseason test.
“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 and then with the car I think we started off quite well so far so and it’s just, it’s an exciting time with this new generation of car as well because it’s all brand new.
“We’re all trying to figure it out on the go and as well last year we were locked into a car that ultimately I inherited. This is a car that I’ve been able to be a part of developing on the simulator for the last you know ten months, eight months and so like a bit of my DNA is within it so I’m you know I’m more connected to this one for sure.”
Part of Hamilton’s rearrangement internally has been the search for a new race engineer, after what appeared externally to be an awkward year with Riccardo Adami on the other side of his radio in 2025.
Hamilton’s poor debut season also coincided with a miserable season generally for the Ferrari, but one tempered by the team’s decision to switch focus to this year’s sweeping rule change far earlier than its rivals.
The length of Hamilton’s deal has never been made public but he has previously said it runs beyond 2026 — he thinks the positive vibes coming out of the team justify his long-term commitment.
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“My belief in the team is still absolutely the same,” he added. “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 gonna be an overnight thing where we’d have success immediately it’s something that I that’s why I signed a longer deal, because I knew it was a more often not is a process and I feel like we’ve also learned a huge amount from last year as a team.
“There have been changes that we’ve made everyone’s constantly keen to make improvements and and be better and so I think we’re working better together than ever before so I’m excited for that moving forwards.”
