Jolyon Palmer believes Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari have “ruined themselves” in recent races of their 2026 Formula 1 title fight, arguing that a series of avoidable mistakes has prevented the Scuderia from fully exploiting Kimi Antonelli’s setbacks. The former F1 driver praised Lewis Hamilton’s remarkable resurgence but warned that Ferrari now needs to maximise every available point if it is serious about catching the Mercedes championship leader.
As Formula 1 returns from the summer break for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, which is set to stage its final edition, Lewis Hamilton sits second in the Drivers’ Championship, 50 points behind Kimi Antonelli. Ferrari, meanwhile, trails Mercedes by 72 points in the Constructors’ standings, leaving both championship battles open but increasingly demanding greater precision from the Maranello team.
Jolyon Palmer highlights costly Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari errors
Mercedes has been the benchmark since the beginning of the season, particularly after Kimi Antonelli put together a run of five consecutive victories in the opening part of the campaign. Reliability problems subsequently disrupted Mercedes’ momentum, however, helping produce five different winners across the five races immediately before the summer break. That sequence included Lewis Hamilton’s first victory for Ferrari in Barcelona.
According to Jolyon Palmer, Ferrari has not taken sufficient advantage of the opportunities created by Mercedes’ difficulties. He highlighted a series of what he considers “silly mistakes” that have cost valuable points, an issue that has already become central to the assessment of points Lewis Hamilton has lost during Ferrari’s 2026 championship challenge.
Among those incidents was Lewis Hamilton impeding Oscar Piastri during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, which resulted in a three-place grid penalty after he had qualified second. Lewis Hamilton then received another five-second penalty during the race for speeding in the pit lane.
Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Jolyon Palmer said: “I’m a little bit disappointed with them in the recent races because I think they’ve been given this opportunity with some reliability issues for Kimi. The wheel cover coming off at Silverstone was a real stroke of luck for Ferrari. They were going to lose that race and instead they managed to recover, significantly reducing Kimi’s advantage.”
He continued: “And then they go and pick up all these penalties. There’s a jump start for Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone just because he moved his hand too quickly. There’s him switching off the pit-lane speed limiter a fraction of a second too early in Hungary. It’s difficult to argue that it isn’t pretty sloppy. And there’s the biggest one of all, probably the impeding penalty in Hungary.”
“Those three penalties might only cost a few points, obviously, but also a bit of momentum and a bit of pressure on Kimi. So they need to cut them out.”
Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari recovery makes the mistakes more frustrating
Jolyon Palmer nevertheless acknowledged how impressive Lewis Hamilton’s recovery has been following a difficult debut campaign with Ferrari in 2025. For the first time in his 19-year Formula 1 career, the seven-time World Champion failed to finish on the podium during that season.
The picture has been very different under the new regulations in 2026. Lewis Hamilton has emerged as Kimi Antonelli’s most credible championship challenger and enters the second part of the campaign 50 points behind the Mercedes driver. He is also nine points ahead of former teammate George Russell, while Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc sits fourth, 31 points behind Lewis Hamilton.
“I think he’s driving brilliantly,” Palmer added. “The fact that he can match or beat Charles for pace much of the time shows how big the recovery has been. It’s really difficult to compare him with the glory years at Mercedes. The competition is so different. The environment is so different. I think we’re seeing some of his best levels ever.”
That assessment makes the recent mistakes even more frustrating in Jolyon Palmer’s view. He argued that the problems have little to do with Lewis Hamilton’s fundamental driving ability, describing his current level behind the wheel as exceptionally high.
“Actually, his driving level is exceptionally high right now. He’s really adapted to these regulations and the opportunity he has in front of him. But then these mistakes don’t really have anything to do with ability. That’s the silly thing.”
Palmer says Ferrari must consider team orders in Kimi Antonelli chase
Jolyon Palmer believes the issue could instead come down to concentration and execution between Lewis Hamilton and his race engineer, with seemingly small errors becoming increasingly expensive as the championship develops.
“It’s some sort of lack of concentration or, I don’t know, attention from him and the race engineer. If Ferrari want to win this championship, they need to assess team orders and the fact that they should be maximising every point. They’re still a long way from doing that in the recent races.”
That question is becoming increasingly significant for Ferrari because of the championship gap between its two drivers. With Lewis Hamilton 31 points ahead of Charles Leclerc and currently Kimi Antonelli’s closest challenger, the Scuderia faces a difficult decision over whether team orders should become part of its title strategy after the summer break.
At the same time, Ferrari knows Mercedes has already provided opportunities through reliability problems. Jolyon Palmer’s frustration is therefore not with Lewis Hamilton’s outright performance, which he considers among the best levels of the Briton’s career, but with the avoidable incidents surrounding that performance.
For Ferrari, the task after the summer break is consequently about more than finding additional speed. If the team wants to keep pressure on Kimi Antonelli, it must convert its opportunities more efficiently and avoid sacrificing points through penalties and execution errors. With Lewis Hamilton’s strong historical form after the summer break adding another dimension to the championship fight, Palmer believes the Scuderia can no longer afford to leave points on the table.
The opportunity remains, but so does the 50-point deficit. For Jolyon Palmer, Lewis Hamilton’s pace is not the central concern; the challenge is ensuring that both driver and team eliminate the “silly” mistakes that have prevented Ferrari from making the most of Mercedes’ recent vulnerability.
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