Italian report claims 2026 Ferrari will be good news for Hamilton – Lewis Hamilton is experiencing his worst ever season in Formula One. Fourteen race weekends into the campaign and the new arrival at Ferrari has yet to claim a Grand Prix podium. Should this extend beyond eighteen race weekends, Hamilton will claim the unenviable record of being the Ferrari driver who went the longest after joining the team without a top three finish.
There’s a general concern in the paddock for Hamilton’s state of mind, after he described his performance in Hungary as “useless” eve suggesting the team “change the driver.” Le Mans 9 times winning legendary Tom Kristensen said this week that, “people in the paddock, they worry about Lewis. He one hundred per cent has a contract for next year. Ferrari wants him to do well the most.”
The former Mercedes man has struggled to adapt to life at Ferrari and the very different culture and processes which exist in Italy, far removed from anything he knew during his time in Woking or Brackley. Add to this the fact the SF-25 appears better suited to his team mate and in some way its understandable to see Lewis in the mood he was in during the weekend in Budapest.
Less ‘ground effect’ in 2026
Yet there may light at the end of tunnel for Hamilton to embrace, given much of the ‘ground effect’ car design, which he hates, will disappear in 2026. The new floors on next year’s cars will be partially flat and with a less powerful diffuser will reduce the reliance on the ground effect style downforce.
This will free up the teams from having to design super-stiff suspensions and run ultra low ride setups, something which will reduce further the bouncing the current era of cars experience and will please the seven times world champion.
However, Ferrari too are taking into consideration the needs of their new driver in the designs of their 2026 challenger, which come the end of the summer break will have have done its first complete wind tunnel runs. According to Italian publication Formula Passion, the Scuderia are developing their 2026 project with a specific focus on Hamilton’s requirements.
It does state the car is not designed exclusively for Lewis’ needs, but given both drivers like a car which understeers it is the rear stability which Hamilton requires, whilst Leclerc can cope better with a looser feel at the rear.
Ferrari experiment with suspension change
Yet within the Ferrari design team, battles rage over the right way to go with the suspension. Last season when Mercedes switched to the red Bull style push rod rear suspension, Ferrari remained with their pull rod system, with technical director Eric Cardile explaining: “We tested for a couple of years a push-rod suspension.
“In reality, our rear suspension is a bit different in terms of top and lower wishbone distribution compared to a Red Bull one, to mention one team. We recorded good aero results moving towards this direction and when moving from pull-rod to push-rod, we didn’t measure a big advantage to justify some compromise in terms of weight or compliance.”
Come 2025 and Ferrari did decide to switch suspension philosophies although it was their push rod front suspension which they switched to pull rod. The reason for this decision remains unclear as ex-Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley discussed on the Formula for Success podcast.
“I mean, whether or not it carries into ’26, Ferrari might have some concept design of a pull-rod front suspension that they want to just get some experience with,” Smedley mused. “It feels like it would be something that you would do for ’25, learning for ’26, or at least to make a decision about ’26. You could make a more rational decision.”
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Whether Ferrari will retain their current suspension philosophy is unclear from the Formula Passion report. Its obvious aerodynamical advantages may not outweigh the mechanical effect of this choice and Ferrari cold easily decided this season has been a failed experiment and return to the 2024 systems front and back.
The 2026 cars have radically new aerodynamic philosophies which will see them able to extract maximum downforce from the front and rear wings through the corners. But come the straighter sections, the wings will be adjusted by the driver to a low downforce setup to aid with top speed by losing drag.
New powertrains are coming too and it could be the case that this time its Ferrari who ace both sets of regulations and finally they will build a championship winning car capable of propelling Lewis Hamilton towards a potential eight world title.
Also for 2026 there will be an Indycar style push to pass function available to the drivers. Although at the recent F1 commission meeting no final decision was taken as to how this will operate. In Indycar, depending on the circuit, there are either 150 or 200 seconds available to each driver, but this allowance must last them for the whole of the race.
Hamilton WILL return
With DRS disappearing and both front and rear wings becoming active, the overtaking in Grand Prix has been predicted to become much harder. This is why a push to pass function called “Manuel override” is mentioned in the regulations, but the FIA could run it differently from Indycar and allowing each driver a specified amount each lap.
The problem with not following the Indycar approach is that drivers will quickly learn where their on track rival is quick at certain points around the track. And so battle will commence on the buttons at the same time each lap, offering neither driver an advantage.
Whatever Ralf Schumacher believes about Hamilton potentially not returning to F1 from the summer break, Lewis will be back. Even though this season is already a write off, there is the lure of another era of F1 racing cars coming soon, which may well suit Hamilton’s driving style.
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Whilst Formula One in 2025 has revealed some real talent amongst the rookie drivers, Lewis Hamilton’s decline is again seeing him have the worst start to a season. Fourteen Grand Prix gone and no pole, wins or podiums for the new Ferrari driver which is made all the worse by the fact his team mate has 5 podiums and one pole position.
Lewis headed into the summer break after the worst weekend of his year to date. He failed to make the top ten shootout in both Sprint and Grand Prix qualifying and for the first time in 2025 he crossed the line outside the points.
Much has been written how much Lewis was down on himself, yet the real takeaway from the weekend is the tensions behind the scenes in Maranello. Ferrari group president John Elkann implied the team work at Ferrari F1 was lacking when he eulogised about the key factor which made Ferrari successful in the Schumacher days…. READ MORE
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Ferrari can have the fastest car on track by a country mile, but Hamilton must still beat his teammate. And we all know Charles has the upper hand in talent and raw speed.