The Ferrari driver has enjoyed a major turnaround in 2026 after a difficult debut season with the Italian team last year.
Hamilton has already scored 169 championship points before the summer break, claimed five podium finishes in his last six races and celebrated his first grand prix victory for Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona – his first Formula 1 win since 2024.
In contrast, Hamilton endured the toughest campaign of his career in 2025. He failed to reach the podium in a grand prix for the first time, although he did win the Sprint race in China, finishing the season with 156 points.
Hamilton has previously said Ferrari’s 2026 car reflects more of his own preferences than last year’s machine, which had originally been developed before his arrival. Even so, he dismissed the belief that the latest regulations naturally favour the aggressive driving style that brought him so much success during his championship-winning years with Mercedes.
“I don’t think it’s particularly more rewarding to anybody,” Hamilton said.
“I think we’ve all had to make adjustments. I don’t feel like I’ve made more adjustments than in any other era.”
Hamilton explained that while he can drive the current Ferrari in a way that feels more familiar, he believes every generation of Formula 1 car demands adaptation.
“I can drive it a little bit more like previous generations of cars, though the races that I won in the previous generations of cars, I drove exactly the same as I do today,” he said.
“So there’s all this talk of how that generation of cars suited me, and I still won more races than most during that period.”
The seven-time world champion believes the latest cars are easier to handle because they are lighter and no longer suffer from the severe bouncing that affected previous designs. However, he said managing power delivery has become far more important.
“We haven’t got bouncing. The throttle and power application takes a lot of work, and tuning through that is just another element you have to do with the engineers,” Hamilton said.
“Today it is drivability, where you’re deploying, and you’re changing that all the time. Understanding that is even more crucial than ever before.”
Formula 1 returns after the summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort from 21 to 23 August.
