Lewis Hamilton’s assessment of Ferrari’s remaining weakness has drawn criticism from former Scuderia head of performance Luigi Mazzola, who believes repeatedly isolating the Power Unit as the problem risks damaging unity inside Maranello. The seven-time world champion expects Ferrari to carry its power deficit through the remainder of the 2026 Formula 1 season, despite praising the underlying quality of the SF-26 and the work completed at the factory.
The debate comes after Ferrari returned to the podium at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Hamilton recovered to third place at Sepang, ending a six-race podium drought for the team, while Charles Leclerc followed him home in fourth. It was Leclerc’s third consecutive fourth-place finish after the Madring and Baku.
Both Ferrari drivers had been forced into recovery drives after the team mistakenly chose Soft C4 slick tyres for a wet start. Charles Leclerc switched to intermediates after the first racing lap, while Lewis Hamilton remained on slicks for longer after having originally preferred to begin the race on intermediate tyres.
The Briton had been overruled by Ferrari on that initial choice and quickly dropped more than a pit stop behind the leaders. Safety Car periods caused by Valtteri Bottas in the Cadillac and Alex Albon in the Williams later helped his recovery, allowing Hamilton to fight back to the podium. The broader consequences of Ferrari’s Sepang decisions have already prompted further discussions between Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari.
Luigi Mazzola warns against blaming Ferrari’s power deficit alone
Despite the strong recovery, one familiar concern remained after Sepang. Lewis Hamilton again highlighted the SF-26’s lack of power, an issue he believes Ferrari will have to manage through the rest of the current campaign.
Luigi Mazzola, who previously served as Ferrari’s Formula 1 head of performance, has questioned that approach. He argued that a Formula 1 car should be considered as a complete system rather than as a collection of independent elements whose weaknesses can be assessed in isolation.
Mazzola pointed out that overall performance is produced by the interaction of the engine, gearbox, suspension, tyres and aerodynamics at both ends of the car. In his view, understanding why a car is slower requires examining how all those elements work together rather than simply identifying one component as responsible.
Straight-line speed was one example used to illustrate his argument. A car’s speed at the end of a straight is not determined solely by engine output: the quality of the preceding corner exit and the amount of aerodynamic drag also contribute to the final result.
For that reason, Mazzola believes publicly blaming one system creates an internal risk. He suggested that employees responsible for the Power Unit could feel they are being held accountable when the engine is singled out, just as aerodynamic personnel would if the aero package were repeatedly identified as the principal weakness.
His concern is that this kind of separation could weaken the sense of unity within Ferrari. That interpretation contrasts with Hamilton’s broader assessment of the project, because the British driver has simultaneously praised the work taking place at Maranello and the technical direction chosen for the SF-26.
Lewis Hamilton expects Ferrari’s power disadvantage to remain in 2026
The straight-line performance available from Ferrari’s 067/6 Power Unit has been a recurring concern for Ferrari-powered teams during the season. Haas driver Oliver Bearman has also been frustrated by straight-line performance at times, believing it restricted him during some on-track battles.
The Power Unit has consequently been characterised as Ferrari’s Achilles heel within the Formula 1 paddock, particularly because the chassis and aerodynamic package have frequently been viewed far more positively. The disadvantage becomes especially significant at circuits where power demand is high.
At Monza, Lewis Hamilton believed Ferrari was losing around six tenths of a second to Mercedes on the straights and described the Mercedes straight-line performance as exceptionally strong. Ferrari’s ongoing power concerns and the team’s otherwise encouraging technical foundations have also been central to Hamilton’s latest assessment of the SF-26.
After Sepang, the seven-time world champion indicated that he does not expect the fundamental deficit to disappear before the end of 2026. With Singapore forming round 17 of the 23-race season, his focus in this area is already shifting towards Ferrari producing a more powerful solution for next year.
Hamilton still believes Ferrari has built a strong car
The criticism from Luigi Mazzola does not mean Lewis Hamilton has dismissed the wider quality of Ferrari’s work. On the contrary, he has offered a strongly positive assessment of the car’s fundamental qualities and credited the people at the factory with making intelligent technical decisions.
Hamilton believes Ferrari has been innovative during 2026 and pointed to solutions introduced on the SF-26 that were subsequently followed by rival teams. His assessment therefore separates what he regards as a strong overall car and effective development work from the specific disadvantage he sees in Power Unit performance.
The British driver’s position is that Ferrari already knows where the deficit lies and has little choice but to manage it through the remaining rounds before attempting to recover the lost ground with its next engine. More of the technical development behind the current package can be followed through ScuderiaFans’ Ferrari technical analysis coverage.
That creates an important distinction ahead of Singapore. Hamilton is not portraying the entire Ferrari project as fundamentally flawed; instead, he believes the team has produced a competitive base while carrying a weakness that cannot be fully eliminated during the current season.
Ferrari heads to Singapore with two different messages to reconcile
The question for Ferrari is therefore not simply whether Lewis Hamilton is correct about the magnitude of the power deficit. Luigi Mazzola’s warning concerns how weaknesses are discussed inside and outside the organisation, particularly when the performance of an F1 car depends on several interconnected systems.
Hamilton, meanwhile, continues to express confidence in the people and technical ideas behind the SF-26 while accepting that one area is likely to remain compromised. His recent outlook has nevertheless included several reasons for optimism heading into the Singapore Grand Prix with Ferrari.
After fighting from the rear of the field to third at Sepang, Lewis Hamilton arrives at Marina Bay having delivered Ferrari’s first podium in six rounds. Yet the performance debate remains unresolved: the driver sees a strong car carrying a clear power disadvantage, while one former senior Ferrari figure believes concentrating too heavily on that single weakness risks overlooking the wider system and, more importantly, disturbing the unity required to improve it.
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