For Lewis Hamilton, bouncing vigorously into this weekend’s season-opener in Melbourne once again, there is another record to add to the collection. At 41, Hamilton is about to embark on his 20th consecutive Formula 1 season. In overtaking Rubens Barrichello’s tally, the seven-time F1 world champion is now out on his own. Of course, currently tied for titles with Michael Schumacher, that is the one leaderboard which continues to define his existence and motivation in the sport.
Hamilton posted about his 20 not-out record, with typical effervescence, on Instagram this week. And one thing is for certain: if Ferrari can produce a car as inspiring as Hamilton’s invigorating wave of pre-season social media posts, maybe the Briton really can challenge for that elusive eighth championship. “I’m still here, 20 years on, still standing, still hungry, still focused on the dream,” he said. “No holding back.”
The unparalleled ebullience is stirring. However, we’ve been here before.
A year ago, Hamilton was beaming in the Albert Park press conference room as he described his imminent Ferrari debut campaign as the “most exciting period of my life”. Then, in a manner only F1 can, with hard numbers on the timesheet, reality set in. He qualified eighth on the grid, before finishing 10th as a podium slipped through his fingers in wet conditions. A week later, after the anomaly that was a sprint race win in China, he was disqualified from the Shanghai grand prix alongside teammate Charles Leclerc.
Henceforth, the tone was set for Hamilton’s worst-ever season. Winless; podiumless; hopeless. And not my words, his. “I feel terrible, terrible. It’s been the worst season ever,” he said, towards the end of a campaign where he would finish sixth in the standings, 267 points off world champion Lando Norris. “No matter how much I try, it keeps getting worse.”
Yet mercifully, for TV pen interviewers and written scribes alike, 2026 represents a clean slate for Ferrari and Hamilton. If there was no regulation shake-up in sight, it is not hyperbole to suggest Hamilton could have irretrievably thrown in the towel last year, such was the doldrums Britain’s greatest-ever racing driver found himself in.
But this year represents a new era. New engines, chassis, fuels and aerodynamics. As has been widely discussed, this season could, in essence, see a completely different sport with energy deployment as significant a factor as pure racing speed. Max Verstappen, amid pre-season testing, described it as “Formula E on steroids”.
If the top four teams – Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull, in that order – are as close as testing suggested, the wiliest will win out. Enter Hamilton.
The ground-effect era, off the back of that controversial 2021 ending in Abu Dhabi, was not kind to Hamilton. Defeated three times out of four in teammate battles with Leclerc and George Russell, it was excruciating to see how out of tune Hamilton was with the machinery beneath him. Yet these new, lighter cars really do have the potential to favour Hamilton the most out of all 22 drivers on the grid.
“I think that his [Lewis’s] style suits these cars a bit more,” said Williams driver Alex Albon. “He makes the corners really short. And he doesn’t focus on exits. I don’t think that’s the worst thing in these cars.” With so many different tools at play for the men in the cockpit – with “overtake mode” replacing DRS, alongside “active aero” and “boost mode” – they look set to reward the drivers most adaptable and adept at providing hyper-specific technical feedback.
With two decades of experience behind him, this is perfect for Hamilton.
No doubt, there are still lingering concerns, not least whether Hamilton actually still has the pure pace of yesteryear, particularly up against Leclerc, one of the sport’s quickest drivers over one lap.
Hamilton’s race engineer situation is also farcical. Having rightly axed Riccardo Adami, the Brit is using an interim in ex-Kimi Raikkonen engineer Carlo Santi for the first few races of the year before Cedric Michel-Grosjean, formerly Oscar Piastri’s performance engineer at McLaren, is expected to be his man-in-ear when he concludes his notice period.
Frankly, given Hamilton’s tumultuous partnership with Adami was obvious from the get-go last year, Ferrari’s lack of forward-planning in this regard is unimpressive. Hamilton has also lost close confidante Marc Hynes to Cadillac, but will continue to have personal trainer Angela Cullen alongside him.
But the reality is simple: it will not matter a jot if Ferrari’s car, the SF-26, is competitive from the outset this weekend in Australia. New phases of regulations typically start with the leading team dominating for years to come. See Mercedes in 2014 and Red Bull in 2022. This year, it’s fair to state that by race 11 at Silverstone in July, we’ll know where Hamilton’s ambitions lie if he is, or isn’t, able to compete for a race victory at his favourite circuit.
And what is so tantalising about these next few months is that they will, most likely, define Hamilton’s final years. Seemingly content off the track, dating one of the world’s most famous women, Kim Kardashian, Hamilton spoke with a smile at the end of testing a fortnight ago, especially after Ferrari’s rapid movement off the line in a practice race start. Typically, Ferrari looks there or thereabouts, with Mercedes the early frontrunners.
The consensus in the paddock is that Hamilton could come alive if Ferrari gives him a car capable of competing for a world championship. And then, a record-breaking eighth does not seem so fanciful. If they don’t – and Ferrari have not produced a world champion since Raikkonen in 2007 – it could speed up the possibility of Hamilton actually waving goodbye to the sport he is so addicted to. We watch on from the sidelines with bated breath.
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