Lewis Hamilton tried to see the bright side of the Shanghai sprint qualifying, focusing on what worked rather than what didn’t, particularly the excellent feeling he had with the SF-26, a car he now feels much more comfortable with. The missing piece remains power, which Ferrari is working on to narrow the gap to Mercedes.
While disappointment dominated one side of the Ferrari garage, Lewis Hamilton approached his first qualifying session of the weekend with optimism. The seven-time world champion emphasized the positives, especially in terms of driving performance, despite the SF‑26 showing imperfect balance during free practice sessions.
It is no secret that Mercedes enjoys a structural advantage, which is even more evident in qualifying. For this reason, it was always difficult to imagine truly dueling with them over a single lap, even though, on paper, the Shanghai circuit should favor energy management a bit more.
What stands out most, perhaps, is missing out on third place, which went to Lando Norris. The McLaren seemed to manage energy better compared to Melbourne, even though in Australia the three top teams behind Mercedes were still separated by only a few hundredths of a second, with the gap widening only during the race.
Beyond that, Lewis Hamilton focused on the positives of his first qualifying session, highlighting that the SF‑26 performed well in terms of cornering, consistent with what had been seen in Melbourne. However, there is still work to do on the power unit, as Lewis Hamilton himself admitted he was surprised by the six-tenth gap in qualifying, considering he felt he had produced a good lap.
“I’m really satisfied with the session. The team did an excellent job. My engineers were fantastic in getting the car back in shape, because FP1 was a tricky session with that spin. Overall, the car felt very good,” the seven-time champion said after qualifying, where he finished fourth, about six and a half tenths off the pace.
“But I think the time lost is on the straights. So we have a lot of work to do. We need to push hard in Maranello to improve the power [of the PU]. This was something we were aware of last year: we thought Mercedes had started development before us, or at least ahead of the others, like they did last time.”
“They’ve done a fantastic job and we need to raise our level. We need to push to close that gap. As for the car, the feeling is excellent. I think we can compete with them in corners. But when you’re down on power, that’s just how it is.”
Data shows clearly how Mercedes, thanks to its power surplus, can approach certain sections of the track very differently. The advantage is particularly evident in the second sector, where Mercedes enters turn 7 with a higher peak speed, allowing them to manage energy differently while maintaining a consistently fast pace, higher than their rivals.
After FP1, in which Ferrari tested the rotating rear wing with the intention of using it this weekend — even ahead of the original plan and without completing its full development — the team evaluated benefits and drawbacks, deciding to shelve it for now.
This is not a rejection but a decision based on data, pending further refinement. Lewis Hamilton highlighted the work done in the factory to anticipate its use, while acknowledging the results were not sufficient to confirm its deployment this weekend.
“I really don’t know why we went backwards. I think we sped up the schedule to bring this update here, when it wasn’t supposed to arrive until the fourth or fifth race, something like that. They did a great job to bring it forward. We only had two, and it was perhaps a bit premature. So we removed it. The car was still excellent, and we will work to bring it back when it’s ready.”
Lewis Hamilton’s candid feedback underscores the unique technical landscape of the 2026 season, where the battle for supremacy is split between mechanical grip and electrical efficiency. While the SF-26’s “great feeling” in the corners provides a solid foundation for the long 2026 campaign, the “clipping” on the straights shows the Power Unit mountain Ferrari has yet to climb. For the Tifosi, the hope is that Lewis Hamilton’s optimism translates into a strong Sprint performance where race-pace consistency might offset the raw qualifying burst of the Mercedes engine. As the team pushes for more horsepower from Maranello, every lap in Shanghai provides vital data to ensure that when the “Macarena” wing and the next PU updates arrive, they are ready to turn that cornering potential into race-winning results.
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