Lewis Hamilton has credited Ferrari’s factory personnel for transforming the SF-26 into a front-running Formula 1 car while making clear that his own feedback and development work also played an important role in the team’s 2026 progress.
The Maranello team reached the summer break second in the Constructors’ Championship, 72 points behind Mercedes. Although Mercedes has established the benchmark by winning eight of the opening 11 races, Ferrari’s stronger reliability has allowed the Scuderia to remain within reach as it continues pursuing the title. The team’s progress has been significant, even though Frédéric Vasseur believes Ferrari still needs to achieve more during the second half of the season.
Ferrari occupied the same championship position when Formula 1 paused for its 2025 summer break, but the situation was considerably worse. The Italian team trailed McLaren by 299 points at that stage, more than four times its current deficit to Mercedes, before eventually falling to fourth in the final standings after redirecting its resources towards the new regulations.
Lewis Hamilton outlines his role in Ferrari’s SF-26 development
Speaking after qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton praised the work completed at Maranello and thanked the factory personnel who had continued delivering new components throughout the season. He considered the SF-26 a strong all-round package and described its development from Ferrari’s previous car as a night-and-day transformation.
The seven-time world champion nevertheless emphasised that he had also helped drive that progress. Hamilton expressed satisfaction at having pushed Ferrari’s development programme towards its current level, with the Scuderia now capable of competing at the front and challenging for victories.
The improvement can be seen in Ferrari’s qualifying deficit to Mercedes. At the opening race in Australia, the Maranello car was approximately eight-tenths of a second away from the leading Mercedes. Across the following 10 rounds, that average gap was reduced to around three-tenths, reflecting the scale of the work completed on the SF-26.
Ferrari’s growing competitiveness has not removed the need for flawless execution. Hamilton acknowledged that the leading teams remain separated by extremely small margins, meaning a driver and team must deliver an almost perfect weekend to secure victory. The importance of extracting the car’s full potential was reinforced by the detailed analysis of the Ferrari SF-26’s performance and limitations in Hungary.
Hamilton’s feedback influenced Ferrari’s design direction
Hamilton’s involvement in the project began during his debut Ferrari season in 2025. The British driver conducted a broad review of the team’s operation and submitted comprehensive feedback documents identifying areas he believed could be improved.
Some of those recommendations initially encountered internal resistance, but elements of Hamilton’s feedback now appear to have been introduced. He had also been pressing, and at times effectively begging, team principal Frédéric Vasseur to approve changes within the organisation and its technical approach.
Listening to Hamilton involved a degree of risk for Ferrari because the seven-time world champion had underperformed during his first campaign in red. However, Vasseur has since identified the Briton as the origin of several important design choices incorporated into the SF-26, confirming that Hamilton influenced more than the car’s setup or his own side of the garage.
His contribution appears to have extended to the overall philosophy of Ferrari’s 2026 challenger. That background gives greater context to Hamilton’s belief that he deserves some recognition for helping the team reach its current position, even while he continues to give substantial credit to the engineers and factory personnel responsible for designing, producing and developing the car.
Ferrari keeps its 2026 championship challenge alive
Unlike in 2025, Ferrari is firmly focused on continuing its current championship campaign rather than abandoning development early. Charles Leclerc has already stressed that the team must remain aggressive in the 2026 Formula 1 upgrade race, with the new regulations still offering opportunities for significant performance gains.
A planned September power-unit development is expected to headline the next phase of Ferrari’s programme. The team has been conducting additional work as part of its reliability preparations for the anticipated Monza engine upgrade, which could become an important part of its attempt to reduce Mercedes’ championship advantage.
Charles Leclerc has generally appeared less comfortable than Hamilton with the SF-26, a contrast that may not be unrelated to the direction taken during the car’s development. However, the Monegasque driver reduced the gap to his team-mate over the most recent races after making an important breakthrough at Silverstone.
Ferrari therefore enters the second half of the season with a substantially stronger foundation than it had one year earlier. Hamilton believes the team’s progress reflects both the relentless work completed at Maranello and the influence of the recommendations he brought into the organisation. Closing a 72-point deficit will still require continued development, reliability and near-perfect execution, but Ferrari remains convinced that the Constructors’ Championship can be won.
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