Last Updated on December 18 2025, 11:53 am

After a very difficult first season, Lewis Hamilton hopes to bounce back at Ferrari in 2026. In a season marked by numerous revolutions in Formula 1, the British driver has reason to believe it’s possible. However, as his former teammate, Nico Rosberg, has said, the Italian team cannot wait forever for Hamilton to deliver strong performances.

The clock is ticking, and whispers in Italy suggest that the management of Ferrari has already planned for an early exit by Hamilton.

For now, it is anticipated that Hamilton will have one last attempt at turning around his tenure for the Italian team next year. So, what will Lewis Hamilton’s 2026 season look like? One thing is certain: the seven-time world champion will have to bounce back after a very difficult first year with Ferrari in 2025. Although the Italian team still seems to have faith publically in Hamilton for the moment, that could quickly change, according to Nico Rosberg.

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“It’s a real nightmare…”

“It’s been a terrible season for him, and it’s not a dignified way to end his career. It’s so difficult for him to deal with because he’s being beaten by his teammate, he’s struggling to qualify for Q2, he’s spinning off on his own… It’s a real nightmare,” Hamilton’s former Mercedes teammate told Sky.

“For now, the whole of Italy is still quite supportive and patient.”

“For now, the whole of Italy is still quite supportive and patient, which is what I also saw at Monza a few months ago. But at some point, that will change too,” the 2016 world champion noted bitterly.

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Ferrari management is anticipating a Hamilton exit and preparing for an early 2026 decision

Although Rosberg says that public support in Italy remains largely intact for Hamilton, Ferrari management is already planning for scenarios in which Hamilton’s time at Maranello ends far earlier than originally intended.

That mood hardened noticeably following the fallout from John Elkann’s post-São Paulo statement last November, when the Ferrari chairman publicly criticised both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, calling for drivers who ‘talk less’ and focus more on Ferrari.

The comments, widely viewed in Italy as a breach of Ferrari’s traditional code of protection, were a clear signal that patience at the very top was thinning.

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Marc Surer’s Assessment of Ferrari’s Stagnation

Rosberg isn’t the only pundit with concerns around Hamilton and Ferrari. Speaking in a YouTube interview with formel1.de, former F1 driver turned pundit, Marc Surer, admitted he was not surprised by Ferrari’s lack of progress in 2025. In his view, the team’s stagnation had been signposted well in advance. Something that won’t bode well for a Hamilton bounce back! early next year.“A man has left Ferrari who has consistently built a superb car for the past few years,” Surer explained.

That man is Enrico Cardile. The long-time Ferrari engineer announced his departure from the team in 2024, before moving to Aston Martin. At the time, the move was viewed as a significant loss for Ferrari, and Surer believes its full impact only became apparent during the 2025 season.

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Ferrari’s Strong Foundations in the Ground-Effect Era

Surer wanted to make it clear that Ferrari’s recent cars were not fundamentally flawed. Following the implementation of the ground-effect regulations in 2022, the Scuderia has consistently manufactured high-performance vehicles. The underlying technical platform was generally sound, despite the fact that execution errors and strategic missteps often undermined results.

“From the very beginning of the ground-effect era, Ferrari has always had a superb car,” Surer said.

“They may not have executed it perfectly, but fundamentally the car was good.”

This assessment is supported by Ferrari’s 2024 campaign, in which the team fought McLaren for the Constructors’ Championship until the final race in Abu Dhabi, ultimately losing by just 14 points.

That level of competitiveness made the dramatic decline in 2025 all the more striking.

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Elkann’s intervention and the shifting power balance

Back in November, issued by Ferrari chairman, John Elkann, the Ferrari CEO, sent a thunderclap over the iconic sportscar brand in Maranello and then around the world of motorsport.

Having upraised the Scuderia engineers and mechanics, Elkann proceeded to attack Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. “The rest is not up to par,” said the Ferrari chairman. “We have drivers who need to focus on driving, talk less…” We need drivers who think more about Ferrari and less about themselves was the blunt message.

Lewis Hamilton never one to not speak posted his defiant response within the hour.

“I back my team. I back myself. I will not give up. Not now, not then, not ever. Thank you, Brazil, always,” the seven-time world champion posted on Instagram. The message was clear, Lewis will not be cowed into submission.

The reaction to Elkann’s remarks exposed deep fault lines inside Ferrari. Hamilton’s swift and defiant public response contrasted sharply with the more conciliatory tone adopted by Leclerc, while respected insiders such as Leo Turrini openly criticised the chairman for targeting drivers rather than leadership and engineering failures.

For Ferrari management, that episode matters. It reinforced the sense that Hamilton is no longer insulated by his status or reputation. While the team still value his experience and commercial pull, the Elkann intervention made it clear that performance will dictate everything. If results do not improve quickly under the 2026 regulations, Ferrari are prepared to move on.

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Contingency plans and a 2026 spring deadline

Further, acording to paddock sources, Ferrari have quietly put contingency plans in place should Hamilton fail to convince early in 2026. The opening spring weekends are viewed internally as a critical evaluation window. In that context, a retirement announcement as early as the Spring phase of the 2026 season is no longer unthinkable. Ferrari are believed to be preparing for that possibility in advance, aligning messaging and succession planning to avoid the impression of crisis.

As Nico Rosberg has warned, Italy’s patience is not infinite. The goodwill Hamilton currently enjoys could evaporate quickly if early-season struggles persist. For Ferrari, the lesson of the Elkann fallout is simple: sentiment cannot outweigh results. If 2026 does not deliver immediate progress, the end may come far sooner than anyone expected.

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NEXT ARTICLE – Hamilton quits his battle to revolutionise Ferrari F1 team

For all the media briefing about how passionate Lewis Hamilton is over doing a Michael Schumacher and making Ferrari great again (MFGA) he farewell in Abu Dhabi was a disconsolate throwing in of the towel.

Lewis has repeatedly claimed this year he has been sending in documents for the perusal of the Scuderia senior management in an effort to wake the sleeping giant in Maranello. He spoke of “structural re-organisation” in the summer when asked about the contents of his ‘documents’ together with specific deficiencies in the SF-25

The ‘Hamilton files’ have not gone down well in certain corners of Ferrari’s HQ as engineers resent being told ‘this is the way we did it at Mercedes.’ Yet this is none of Lewis’ fault, its all part of Ferrari arrogance based on a once glorious past.

 

Hamilton notes Alonso & Vettel failures

On media day before the F1 seasons finale, Lewis again spoke of him taking a ‘hands on approach’ in terms of Ferrari reform and how he refused to accept his tenure with the Scuderia will go the same disappointing ways as Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.

“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 making the decisions. If you look at the team over the last 20 years, they’ve had amazing drivers.

“You’ve had Fernando, you’ve had Sebastian. All world champions. However, they didn’t win a World Champion[ship] with Ferrari. And I refuse for that to be the case with me, so I’m going the extra mile,” claimed the seven times champion…READ MORE ON THIS STORY