Spanish GP telemetry: Lewis Hamilton’s stellar cornering ruined by straight-line drag and empty battery. Lewis Hamilton came within 0.064 seconds of pole position in Barcelona.

Ferrari analysis: fatal clipping and higher drag than Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari came extremely close to a remarkable achievement in qualifying, missing out on pole position by just a few thousandths of a second due to an issue related to the hybrid system. Telemetry analysis of the lap reveals an SF-26 that was exceptionally strong from a chassis perspective, allowing the British driver to fully exploit his strengths through the more technical sections of the circuit.

A direct comparison with George Russell’s Mercedes demonstrates that the potential to start from pole was genuinely there, only to be undone by energy depletion on the final straight.

Ferrari: corner comparison and sector deltas

In the first sector, the performance of the two drivers was virtually identical. It was in the middle sector that Lewis Hamilton made the real difference, gaining a full tenth of a second on his rival. The Ferrari performed significantly better through Turn 3, where the British driver needed only a 15–20% lift of the throttle, while George Russell was forced to reduce throttle input by around 40%. The excellent performance continued through Turn 4, with Lewis Hamilton carrying 5 km/h more speed through the corner and building a two-tenth advantage in that section alone.

The performance of the Ferrari was equally impressive through the long loaded corners of Turns 5 and 8. At Turn 7, despite very similar braking points, the British Ferrari driver was able to carry more speed into the corner and achieve a better overall approach than his rival. At Turn 9, Lewis Hamilton recorded a higher minimum speed at the apex. Although he returned to the throttle a fraction later than the Mercedes driver, his cornering phase proved considerably more effective.

It was an extremely well-optimized lap from Ferrari’s seven-time Formula 1 world champion.

SF-26: top speed and the clipping question

On the straights, however, the SF-26 paid a price in terms of aerodynamic drag compared to the competition.

On the straight leading to Turn 4, Lewis Hamilton surrendered 8 km/h in top speed. He lost another 5 km/h before Turn 7 and was 4 km/h slower on the run toward Turn 10, although the figures were reversed on the main straight, where Hamilton reached 342 km/h compared to George Russell’s 341 km/h.

The perfect lap slipped away in the final sector. The British driver lost around one and a half tenths almost entirely on the short final straight due to the power unit.

The critical moment came immediately after Turn 14, when the battery energy was exhausted. This clipping effect resulted in a deficit of 13 km/h on the exit of the final corner and cost Lewis Hamilton exactly one tenth of a second relative to George Russell by the time they crossed the finish line. Without that loss of power deployment, pole position would likely have belonged to Lewis Hamilton by approximately five hundredths of a second.

In conclusion, from a chassis and aerodynamic balance standpoint, Ferrari proved to be extremely competitive. Missing out on pole position was not caused by a lack of cornering performance, but solely by the energy deployment strategy and the depletion of hybrid power in the final sector of the lap.