Lewis Hamilton reveals the Ferrari setup error behind his Silverstone struggles. Why Lewis Hamilton struggled in the British GP: Ferrari setup mistake explained.

Lewis Hamilton’s 2026 British Grand Prix weekend was one of dramatic highs and frustrating lows. After claiming pole position on Friday and leading Ferrari’s charge in the Sprint Race, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion crossed the finish line in Sunday’s Grand Prix disappointed, not only because of the Safety Car strategy that compromised his race but also because he lacked the pace to challenge teammate Charles Leclerc.

Although Hamilton was keen to point out that the winning setup philosophy had originated from his side of the Ferrari garage, he also admitted that a crucial mistake in configuring his SF-26 prevented him from extracting the car’s full potential during the race.

A setup mistake that compromised Lewis Hamilton’s race

Speaking to Sky Sports UK after the chequered flag at Silverstone, the seven-time world champion revealed what had gone wrong.

“We were definitely lacking front-end grip,” the British driver explained. “We definitely underestimated the importance of the front wing. But that was my mistake and my engineer’s mistake.”

Anyone watching Hamilton’s onboard footage during the race could clearly see how much he struggled with understeer. The Ferrari simply refused to rotate through Silverstone’s fast, sweeping corners, forcing him to apply more steering lock than usual. That not only cost him lap time but also accelerated the wear of his front tyres, which dropped off significantly earlier than those of Charles Leclerc and Andrea Kimi Antonelli during the opening stint.

Why Hamilton reduced front wing instead of adding it

The British driver provided further details during the FIA post-race press conference, explaining the thinking behind the setup decision.

“In terms of the setup, I noticed that Charles had increased the front load compared to, I think, qualifying, and had added more front wing. But with the differential settings we had, it looked like the car was massively oversteering. So I took a bit of front wing off, and at the start of the race I ended up with massive understeer.”

That decision proved costly, as Lewis Hamilton immediately lost touch with his teammate: “As a result, he just drove away from me. I simply couldn’t get the car to rotate until around the middle of the first stint.”

Lewis Hamilton eventually managed to improve the balance by adjusting the differential settings during the race, but by then the damage had already been done.

“After that, thanks to some changes to the differential, I was able to improve the handling slightly, but by that point the gap was already huge,” Lewis Hamilton concluded.