Lewis Hamilton is still struggling to find the right feeling with Ferrari’s updated SF-26, and a revealing team radio exchange during FP2 at the 2026 United States Grand Prix exposed exactly where he was losing time to Charles Leclerc. The seven-time Formula 1 world champion finished fourth in Austin, 0.615 seconds behind his teammate, but the result tells only part of the story. Repeatedly questioning his race engineer about the six-tenth deficit, Lewis Hamilton received a detailed breakdown of the corners where the other Ferrari was gaining time.
The conversation with race engineer Carlo Santi provided an unusually clear picture of the differences between the two Ferrari drivers. It also revealed the specific front-wing adjustment Lewis Hamilton requested in an attempt to improve the balance of his car and recover performance.
Lewis Hamilton struggles to find confidence with Ferrari’s updated SF-26
Friday’s running in Austin produced two contrasting situations inside the Ferrari garage. Charles Leclerc topped both free practice sessions, adapting immediately to the new aerodynamic package, while Lewis Hamilton encountered greater difficulties finding a satisfactory balance.
It is worth remembering that the British driver completed a comparison programme during FP1, only running the fully updated configuration in the second practice session. That left him with less time to understand the behaviour of the revised SF-26, although the difference in preparation alone is not enough to explain the entire performance gap. The latest changes form part of Ferrari’s development package for the Austin weekend.
After his attempt on soft tyres, Lewis Hamilton openly expressed his dissatisfaction over the radio. “Yeah, I’m really missing something… The car is going a bit wherever it wants, man. Where am I losing those six tenths?” he asked.
The seven-time world champion then became even more direct: “Where am I losing all this time?”
Carlo Santi initially pointed towards the apex of Turn 12, but Lewis Hamilton wanted a more precise comparison. “Can you just give me the sector times?” he asked.
The engineer’s response immediately clarified the situation: “First sector practically identical, four tenths lost in the second and two in the third.”
The deficit was therefore not spread evenly across the lap. Lewis Hamilton was able to match Charles Leclerc through the opening sector of the Circuit of the Americas, but lost almost all his time across the following two sections. The breakdown helps explain the difference visible in the United States GP FP2 results, where the two Ferrari drivers were separated by 0.615 seconds.
Four tenths lost in sector two: Carlo Santi identifies the decisive corners
The most revealing part of the conversation concerned the second sector, where the British driver was losing approximately four tenths of a second to his teammate. Lewis Hamilton wanted to understand why such a substantial difference existed between two cars belonging to the same team.
“OK, but where are those four tenths in the second sector coming from? From Turn 12?” he asked.
Carlo Santi then provided a detailed comparison, identifying several corners where Charles Leclerc was performing more effectively.
“At the apex of Turn 7, on the exit of Turn 9, on the exit of Turn 11 and at the apex of Turn 12. Also, he brakes better into Turn 12, both in peak pressure and during the release phase,” the engineer explained.
The differences were not concentrated in one isolated mistake. Instead, Charles Leclerc was gaining time through a sequence of corners that placed different demands on the SF-26, highlighting the importance of both driving precision and the car’s balance.
The reference to Turn 11 was particularly interesting because it leads onto the long back straight. Losing speed at the corner exit can also compromise the following acceleration phase, extending the consequences of a relatively small initial deficit.
Turn 12 presents a different challenge. With a demanding braking zone at the end of the straight, the stability of the car becomes especially important. Carlo Santi’s observations about peak brake pressure and brake release suggested that Charles Leclerc was managing this phase more effectively than Lewis Hamilton.
These comparisons offer useful insight into how the two Ferrari drivers were producing their lap times. The differences in corner entry, apex speed, exit performance and braking behaviour are precisely the kinds of details that can be examined through Formula 1 telemetry and corner-by-corner comparisons.
Carlo Santi’s explanation suggested difficulties involving both racing-line precision and the management of the car’s balance. However, those symptoms cannot automatically be attributed to a specific weakness in Ferrari’s new aerodynamic package.
Charles Leclerc had already demonstrated that the updated SF-26 was capable of delivering strong performance. The challenge for Lewis Hamilton was to find a way to extract that potential consistently, without having to make repeated corrections while driving.
Lewis Hamilton requests more front wing as Ferrari searches for setup improvements
The final part of the radio exchange also revealed the direction Lewis Hamilton wanted Ferrari to pursue with the car’s setup. After receiving the detailed comparison with Charles Leclerc, the British driver requested an adjustment to the front of the SF-26.
“Yeah, as I’m coming in, I’d like a bit more front wing, please,” Lewis Hamilton told his engineer.
Carlo Santi asked how much adjustment he wanted, receiving the concise reply: “Plus two.”
The request indicated Lewis Hamilton’s intention to increase the front-wing angle in the hope of improving the car’s response, particularly during corner entry and through the corners themselves.
Two adjustment clicks do not represent a radical setup change, but on highly sensitive Formula 1 cars, even relatively small modifications can affect the driver’s feeling behind the wheel. Increasing the front-wing angle can alter the aerodynamic balance, potentially improving the response from the front axle.
Nevertheless, adding more front-end downforce does not necessarily resolve every handling problem. Any such intervention also changes the overall balance of the car, meaning an adjustment intended to improve one characteristic can influence its behaviour elsewhere.
The situation also recalls Lewis Hamilton’s experience during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend two weeks earlier. On that occasion, the seven-time world champion explained that a front-wing adjustment made in pursuit of additional performance had left his Ferrari too nervous during Q3. The difficulties encountered by the SF-26 during that weekend were also examined in the Ferrari Singapore Grand Prix technical analysis.
In Austin, the problem appeared in a different form, with Lewis Hamilton once again struggling to feel completely comfortable with the behaviour of his Ferrari. While Charles Leclerc was immediately extracting competitive lap times from the updated SF-26, his teammate was still trying to identify the adjustments needed to achieve the same confidence and consistency.
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