Lewis Hamilton: Ferrari driver says team could reach ‘magical place’ at top of F1 by developing early 2026 | F1 News
Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari have the potential to take themselves “to a magical place” if they build on their development, insisting where they are now in 2026 is “not” the team’s ambitions.
Hamilton arrives at this weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix aiming to build on the best results of his 17-month Ferrari career after finishing second to Mercedes title leader Kimi Antonelli in each of the last two races.
After a difficult 2025 season, the last of the previous rules, the signing of the team and a new star last year, Ferrari is second to unbeaten Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship with podium finishes in all but one of the six grand prix so far.
And Hamilton, who has appeared to be a rejuvenated team so far, said: “My approach is full attack, full commitment, trying to continue to strengthen the team and push in the right direction.
“I think we have the North Star. We know where we have to go.
“Getting there takes a lot of work, and it’s not as easy as just fixing something for next week. And just staying put is all about keeping pushing.
“If we all paddle the same way with the same energy. I think we might reach a magical place.”
Throughout Ferrari’s progress, however, Mercedes has so far remained an unshakable force at the front of the grid with six wins from as many pole positions so far.
“It’s going to be hard to beat Mercedes and we’re just busy trying to focus on ourselves and improve throughout the weekend,” said Hamilton.
“But this is the beginning of us as a team. It’s obviously from a difficult year [in 2025] seeing the changes this season is really good and I think we are going in the right direction. But this is not the case.
“We have more to come; we have more development to do.”
“I hope we can be there in a situation like that but we are there to win and I think we are not there to win automatically. Winning is by pure performance and commitment and that is what we are working towards.”
Please use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
After finishing on the Monaco podium alongside Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar, Lewis Hamilton joked that he was older than the two combined!
‘Never say never’ – does Ferrari retain world title hopes?
With George Russell failing to score in the past two races, Hamilton moved ahead of his former Mercedes team-mate into second place in the Drivers’ Championship ahead of this weekend’s race in Barcelona.
However, the seven-time champion’s points deficit to leader Antonelli – who has won the last five races – is significant, at 66 points.
Hamilton has ruled out any chance of Ferrari making up for the engine shortfall despite being awarded two development upgrades this year under the sport’s ADUO rules, although he believes they can do the job well.
“Regarding the topic, we are still able to surpass people in the way we improve the car, our car is very good.
Please use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Speaking on Paddock Uncut, Craig Slater, Ted Kravitz and Harry Benjamin give their reaction to the FIA’s news that the penalties in Monaco may not be correct, after Alpine’s request was accepted.
“We’ll have to double down, make sure we’re always one step ahead of everything in terms of pushing that forward, so we can go through the corners faster and catch the deficit we might lose on the straights, improve efficiency, so maybe we can improve on drag, for example, to try to close that gap at speed.
“There’s a lot of different things going on in all these different songs. Never say never. I’m going to keep pushing and give it my all.”
Sky Sports F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP schedule
Please use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Ahead of this weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, we look back at some of the most amazing moments from past races on the circuit.
Friday June 12
8.50am: F3 Practice
10am: F2 Practice
12pm: Barcelona-Catalunya GP Practice One (session starts at 12.30pm)
1.55pm: F3 Qualification
2.50pm: F2 Qualifying
3.35pm: Barcelona-Catalunya GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)*
5.30pm: The F1 Show
6.30pm: Team Leaders Conference
Saturday June 13
9am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Barcelona-Catalunya GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint*
2.15pm: Build-up to Barcelona-Catalunya GP*
3pm: BARCELONA-CATALUNYA GP QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted’s Worthy Booklet
Sunday June 14
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: Porsche Supercup
10.20am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Build-up to Barcelona-Catalunya GP: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: THE BARCELONA-CATALUNYA GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Barcelona-Catalunya GP Reaction: Checked Flag
5pm: Ted’s notebook
*Also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 is in Spain with the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
