‘Ferrari couldn’t win with many F1 champions, I refuse for that to be me’

Lewis Hamilton says he is leaving no stone unturned as he wants to lead Ferrari to success under Formula 1’s 2026 regulations, hoping to buck a trend of world champions failing to add titles to their resume at Maranello. 

Hamilton’s peers Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel both made the jump to Ferrari to restore the Italian powerhouse to its title-winning ways, but neither driver managed to succeed, with Kimi Raikkonen’s 2007 title still Ferrari’s last drivers’ championship win. 

Seven-time world champion Hamilton is the latest F1 great on a quest to win in red and he says he is pulling out all the stops behind the scenes to buck that trend, alongside team-mate Charles Leclerc. 

“If you look at the team over the last 20 years, they’ve had amazing drivers,” Hamilton said. “You’ve had Kimi, you’ve had Fernando, you’ve had Sebastian, all world champions, however they [Alonso and Vettel] didn’t win a world championship and I refuse for that to be the case with me, so I’m going the extra mile.” 

With aero development for 2026 in full swing since January and other projects ongoing to define critical areas of the 2026 car’s design, Hamilton has been pulling up his sleeves in the Maranello factory, keen to be involved every step of the way. That ranges from putting together documents for the heads of department to in-depth talks with the very top of the company, including chairman John Elkann, CEO Benedetto Vigna and team principal Fred Vasseur. 

“I was at the factory for two weeks, a couple days each week,” the 40-year-old detailed. “I’ve called on lots of meetings with the heads of the team, so I’ve sat with John, Benedetto and Fred in several meetings. I’ve sat with the head of our car development, with Loic [Serra], with also the heads of different departments, talking about the engine for next year, talking about the front suspension, the rear suspension; things that I want, issues that I have with this car. 

“After the first few races, I made a full document for the team. Then during this break, I sent in another two documents. Then I come in and want to address those. Some of it is structural adjustments that we need to make as a team in order to get better, and all the areas that we want to improve. 

“Then, the other one was really about the current issues that I have. Some things that you do want to take on to the next year’s car, and some that you need to work on changing for next year. 

“We tried the 2026 car for the first time and started work on that, and 30 engineers come to the room, and you sit and debrief with every single one of them. So, it’s a big, big push.” 

Ferrari “not firing on all cylinders” 

Hamilton appears to be digging deeper than he ever has to help the team start 2026 in the best possible position. Some of that is because he has noticed the team is “not firing on all cylinders” yet, and because he feels responsible for Ferrari’s fortunes after its efforts to bring him in from Mercedes. 

Following successful spells at McLaren and Mercedes, Hamilton says he wants to “challenge” every department in the team about what decisions they are making and why. 

“The reason for it is that I see a huge amount of potential within this team; the passion, nothing comes close to that,” he explained. 

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

“It is a huge organisation and there’s a lot of moving parts and not all of them are firing on all the cylinders that need to be. That’s ultimately why the team’s not had the success that I think it deserves, so I feel that it’s my job to challenge absolutely every area, to challenge everybody in the team, particularly the guys that are at the top who are making the decisions. 

“Sometimes if you take the same path all the time, you get the same results, so I’m just challenging certain things.” 

While acknowledging every team has a different culture, which certainly applies to Ferrari, he praised his new squad for being “incredible responsive” to his input. 

“We’ve been improving in so many areas through marketing, through everything we’re continuously delivering for sponsors, the way the engineers continue to work; there’s lots of work and improvements to be made, but they are very responsive,” Hamilton said.

“Ultimately, I guess I’m just trying to really recreate allies within the organisation and get them geed up, get them pushing.” 

Another reason why Hamilton is in a hurry is because he acknowledges time is not on his side to claim an eighth world championship as he enters his forties. “I’m here to win and I don’t have as much time as this one here,” he said while pointing to his Mercedes successor Andrea Kimi Antonelli sitting next to him in the FIA press conference. 

“It’s crunch time and I truly believe in the potential of this team. I really, really believe that they can win multiple world championships moving forward. They already have an amazing legacy, but during my time that’s my sole goal.”