The final Grand Prix of the season also offers the chance to draw a clear balance of the championship and of what has been Lewis Hamilton’s first year in Ferrari red. The British driver explained that the team working behind the scenes is already changing step by step, although there are still areas where further progress can be made. For this reason, he also pushed Frederic Vasseur to focus early on the 2026 project.
The assessment Hamilton gave of this season is now well known. The British driver did not hide the fact that, amid moments of pessimism and disappointment, this has been the most difficult year of his entire career. And yet, it is precisely from difficult moments that major successes often arise, especially when one learns to recognise where and how to improve in order to reach the desired goals.
On this front, the seven-time world champion has very clear ideas, the result of his vast wealth of experience. Every driver — especially one who comes from a winning team where he spent most of his career — brings with him valuable reflections and insights to work on inside a new environment.
This has also been the case with Lewis Hamilton who, throughout the season, identified areas where it would be possible to make a step forward, both technically and in terms of execution. Because sometimes having the best car is not enough if you cannot rely on a flawless team; and, on the other hand, when the car is not at the level required, it is precisely the team that can make the difference.
This year, despite a few errors, Ferrari displayed significant progress in execution. As always, however, there remains room for growth and for establishing continuity throughout the entire season. Lewis Hamilton made it clear that he has already pointed out to the team the areas where they must intervene and the direction to take, while also acknowledging that turning these indications into concrete changes will take time.
“Yes, I think there have been changes. Slow progress. I think we have to analyse what went well and the areas where we can improve. I’ve already highlighted them, I know exactly where they are. It’s about sitting down with the team at the end of the year,” Lewis Hamilton said on the eve of the final Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi, underlining how this process involves not only the team but also his personal sphere.
“I’ll also look internally at my personal team, away from the track, to understand what more we can do to make it more efficient with timings, travel, and all these different things. And I’ll do the same with the team.”
It is no secret that 2025 has been a complicated season for both Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari, affected by some design choices that did not deliver the expected results and by the decision to halt development early in order to focus resources on 2026. It is a strategy the British driver had already requested during the early phases of the season, aware that achieving the initial goals would be extremely difficult for the Scuderia.
Lewis Hamilton was, in fact, one of the people who pushed for an early shift of focus toward next season and he has never hidden it, convinced that the decision can bring long-term benefits: “It didn’t have a psychological effect on me personally. I didn’t know that at the end of the year we would be where we are now, no. We predicted it, but it felt worse, naturally.”
“But I was one of those pushing Fred. It’s like saying: we can’t be behind the others in developing the new car, because it’s a steep learning curve for all of us. So I supported him 100%. I still support him. I think it was the right decision, especially considering where we were with the car and the fact that we weren’t fighting for the championship.”
The work ahead of next season will already begin next week, not only with the collective tests in Abu Dhabi — where the drivers will try the 2026 tyres, for which Ferrari developed a specific mobile front wing — but above all because from now on the focus can be completely dedicated to the simulator and the upcoming season. During the year, in fact, work must be divided between ongoing races and the future project; now, instead, the focus will be entirely on 2026.
“The work for next year starts already next week. We’ve already been working behind the scenes on 2026 for several months. But next week we’ll already be in the simulator working on the new car. And we’ll do the test, which will be with next season’s tyres. And training will begin before Christmas. So the break is the shortest we’ve ever had. Basically, there won’t really be much time to recover from the season.”
The 2026 season will represent a true leap into the unknown for everyone. Not only because the new regulations will be radically different from the current ones, but also because they will mark a break from everything that came before. It will be a revolution packed with uncertainties, with simulator models evolving day by day.
“I think it’s really, really hard to predict what it will be like. I don’t want to say too many negative things. It looks so different and I’m not sure you’re going to like it. But maybe I’ll be surprised and maybe it will be amazing. Maybe the overtaking will be incredible. Maybe it will be easier to overtake. I don’t know. We have less downforce, more torque. Driving in the wet, I imagine, will be very, very, very difficult.” – the British driver pointed out.
“But, as I said, we could arrive and have more grip than expected. Whether you like it or not, the fact that we’re downshifting on the straight with different boost parameters… But it’s a huge challenge for all of us and I think that’s really what the sport represents. It’s about constantly testing yourself. If we always did the same thing, it would be easy.” – the seven-time Formula 1 world champion concluded.
For Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari, the hope is that the pain of 2025 and the early sacrifice of this year’s car will lay the foundations for a genuine title challenge when the grid lines up again in 2026.
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