Martin Brundle believes Lewis Hamilton may be questioning what he could have achieved had he remained at Mercedes, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli securing the 2026 Formula 1 world championship in the seat the seven-time champion vacated. The Sky Sports pundit has raised the possibility that Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari cost him an opportunity to claim a record eighth world title, although he acknowledged that such an outcome was far from guaranteed.
Hamilton departed Mercedes at the end of 2024 to fulfil his ambition of racing for Ferrari, just before the major regulation changes that helped his former team return to the front of the grid. While the British driver has continued to make progress at Maranello, Antonelli has enjoyed an extraordinary championship-winning campaign, creating an intriguing question about how differently Hamilton’s career might have unfolded.
Martin Brundle raises Lewis Hamilton’s missed eighth F1 title opportunity
Mercedes have established themselves as the leading force of the 2026 season, even though their advantage has diminished as rival teams have developed their cars. The Brackley-based outfit have won 12 of the opening 19 Grands Prix, with Antonelli responsible for nine of those victories.
The Italian’s success has been particularly significant because he replaced Hamilton following the Briton’s departure. Before leaving Mercedes, where he won six of his seven world championships, Hamilton wrote a personal message on the wall of the team’s motorhome wishing his young successor good luck.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Brundle suggested that Hamilton must occasionally consider whether staying with Mercedes would have allowed him to secure the eighth championship that has eluded him since 2020. However, the former Formula 1 driver was careful not to assume that Hamilton would necessarily have matched Antonelli’s achievements.
Brundle pointed to the difficulties Hamilton experienced against George Russell during his final seasons at Mercedes. The competitiveness of his former team-mate, he argued, made it impossible to know whether the seven-time champion would have been able to dominate the 2026 campaign in the same way as his replacement.
Nevertheless, Brundle imagined that watching Antonelli celebrate the championship might have prompted Hamilton to reflect on the circumstances of his departure, particularly given the warm farewell message he had left for the Italian.
Despite raising that possibility, the Sky Sports commentator maintained that Hamilton was unlikely to harbour significant regrets. He explained that joining Ferrari had been a personal ambition for the British driver, who had enjoyed the experience and was continuing to improve with the Italian team.
Lewis Hamilton congratulates Kimi Antonelli after Mexico City Grand Prix
Hamilton’s own response to Antonelli’s success was overwhelmingly positive. After finishing second at the Mexico City Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver offered his congratulations to the newly crowned world champion during his parc fermé interview.
The Briton expressed his appreciation at having witnessed what he regarded as a phenomenal achievement, as Antonelli became the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history at just 20 years old. The moment also highlighted the unusual connection between the two drivers, with the Italian now celebrating the championship in the Mercedes seat Hamilton had occupied for more than a decade.
Despite Mercedes’ superiority across much of the season, Hamilton remains in contention to finish second in the Drivers’ Championship. However, the gap to Antonelli stands at 121 points, underlining the scale of the Italian’s advantage.
Hamilton’s only Grand Prix victory of 2026 came at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix in June. Although Ferrari have shown encouraging signs of improvement, including their recent performance in Mexico, the team have been unable to match Mercedes consistently over the course of the campaign.
The Mexican race also brought renewed attention to Ferrari’s challenges involving Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, with the team’s longer-term competitiveness remaining an important issue heading towards 2027.
Lewis Hamilton identifies Ferrari engine weakness ahead of 2027
Rather than concentrating on the championship opportunity he might have missed, Hamilton is already looking towards Ferrari’s prospects for next season. The seven-time world champion believes the Maranello outfit can challenge Antonelli and Mercedes in 2027, provided it addresses a major weakness that has repeatedly compromised its performance.
Speaking after the Mexico City Grand Prix, Hamilton explained that Ferrari need a more competitive power unit to fight Mercedes effectively. He highlighted the substantial straight-line speed advantage enjoyed by the German manufacturer’s cars, recalling how they had regularly been able to pass Ferrari on the straights throughout the season.
Hamilton believes that eliminating this deficit while retaining the positive characteristics of Ferrari’s current chassis could put the team in a much stronger position. He also emphasised his complete confidence in the people working at Maranello and their ability to deliver the improvements required.
The importance of preserving the car’s existing strengths is particularly relevant following Ferrari’s aerodynamic development during the 2026 season. The team have made progress with their current package, but Hamilton’s assessment makes clear that improving straight-line performance will be central to his hopes of fighting for another championship.
For the Briton, the immediate objective is therefore not to dwell on Mercedes’ success, but to help Ferrari build a car capable of challenging for victories and the world title on a more consistent basis.
Why staying at Mercedes would not have guaranteed Hamilton another title
There is another complication surrounding the suggestion that Hamilton could have won the 2026 championship with Mercedes: he might not have been driving for the team even if he had decided against joining Ferrari.
Hamilton’s previous contract was due to run until the end of 2025, but he exercised an option that allowed him to leave a year early. Consequently, remaining with Mercedes would not automatically have secured him a seat for the first season under the new regulations.
His difficult final years during Formula 1’s ground-effect era also created uncertainty about whether Mercedes would have offered him another contract extension. Russell had increasingly challenged Hamilton within the team, while Antonelli’s performances in the junior categories had already marked him out as an exceptionally promising prospect.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has previously indicated that Hamilton’s decision to depart resolved a difficult situation for the team. Antonelli’s emergence had presented Mercedes with the prospect of promoting a driver widely regarded as possessing generational talent, while Hamilton’s future beyond his existing contract remained uncertain.
That means the alternative scenario imagined by Brundle involves more than simply placing Hamilton in Antonelli’s championship-winning car. Mercedes would first have needed to retain the Briton for 2026, and Hamilton would then have had to outperform Russell and the rest of the field.
Even with the extraordinary records Hamilton established during his Mercedes career, neither outcome could be taken for granted.
Antonelli’s breakthrough has nevertheless given the debate fresh significance. His remarkable rise, explored further in the Mercedes driver’s reflections on his first world championship, has demonstrated the scale of the opportunity available at Hamilton’s former team.
For Hamilton, the challenge now is to turn his Ferrari ambition into another championship opportunity. Brundle may believe the Briton has reason to wonder what could have happened at Mercedes, but the seven-time champion’s confidence in Ferrari suggests his attention remains firmly fixed on what he can still achieve in red.
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