Lewis Hamilton: “We need to understand if Mercedes’ advantage comes from power or the battery”. Lewis Hamilton: Ferrari must understand where Mercedes’ advantage comes from.

The British champion finished fourth in the Australian Grand Prix

Hamilton highly motivated

The Lewis Hamilton seen in Melbourne was certainly very different from the one fans had watched during the previous season. The seven-time world champion appeared relaxed, smiling and fully determined to extract the maximum performance from his Ferrari SF-26. If the qualifying session did not deliver the result he had hoped for — finishing seventh on the grid — the race performance told a far more encouraging story, with Lewis Hamilton bringing his Ferrari home in fourth place after a very solid drive.

His start was particularly impressive. Starting from seventh on the grid, the British driver managed to gain several positions immediately after the lights went out and found himself already running in third place during the very early stages of the race.

The recovery mission

Ferrari clearly appeared to be the second-fastest car on track during the Australian Grand Prix weekend, and Lewis Hamilton’s focus is already on the task of closing the gap to Mercedes in the upcoming races.

“I think we can close the gap. It won’t be easy, there’s a lot of work to do because they have a significant advantage, especially over a single lap. We need to find out whether it comes from the power or the battery, but our car seems as fast as theirs in the corners, so we just need to keep pushing,” Lewis Hamilton explained to Sky Sport UK.

Speaking to DAZN Spain, Lewis Hamilton also reflected on the race start and suggested that he might have been able to achieve an even better result in the opening moments of the Grand Prix.

“My start was great, but at the first corner I left too much space on the inside because they were in my blind spot and I ran wide, which meant I lost two positions. It wasn’t ideal.”

Those positions, however, were quickly recovered in the following corners as Lewis Hamilton settled into a strong rhythm during the race.

Lewis Hamilton’s assessment of the 2026 power balance suggests that Ferrari has successfully matched Mercedes in aerodynamic efficiency, leaving the power unit’s energy deployment as the final frontier to conquer. By identifying the specific nature of the Silver Arrows’ single-lap advantage, the Briton is providing Maranello with a clear technical roadmap to ensure that his impressive race starts are eventually rewarded with a challenge for the top step of the podium.