From setbacks to podium success: Hamilton’s redemption in red
- Caitlyn Gordon
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
Written by Caitlyn Gordon, Edited by Meghana Sree
Lewis Hamilton is the household name that springs to mind when Formula One is mentioned, due to a multitude of factors, including tying Michael Schumacher with the most Drivers’ Championships in the sport’s history and breaking numerous records such as, most pole positions, most wins and most podiums.
However, what Hamilton is primarily recognised for is his longevity at the top, especially between 2014 and 2020 where he dominated with Mercedes.
That all changed in 2021. As the infamous season concluded in controversy in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton was denied the elusive eighth championship.
For the following two seasons, the Briton struggled as Mercedes failed to adapt to the new regulations. Porpoising issues plagued Mercedes making the car difficult to drive, and the consequences were significant: the team lost out on the Constructors’ Championship in 2022 for the first time since 2013 and notably, Hamilton didn’t claim either a race win or pole position in those two seasons.
While 2024 brought some brief moments of positivity, with an emotional victory at Silverstone, marking his first race victory in 945 days, it also marked the end of the Briton’s 12 year relationship with Mercedes.
At the beginning of the season, after years of speculation, Hamilton announced that would be racing under Ferrari in 2025. The news shocked the sporting world and became the headline story of the 2024 season. For Hamilton, it was a cause for newfound hope, with the dream of the elusive eighth championship no longer a hypothetical, but a distant prospect.
Reality set in
The long awaited 2025 season went underway in Australia, where all eyes were on Ferrari. Hamilton qualified in eighth, a disappointing result, but a position he has recovered from before.
The wet-weather posed a new challenge as the team failed to communicate set-up adjustments and conditions to Hamilton. He concluded the race in 10th with Hamilton expressing his frustration over the radio describing the race as a “missed opportunity”. The 10th place position broke a new record, one of which he wouldn’t want; Hamilton’s result marked the worst Ferrari debut since Luca Badoer in 2009, the second worst in the 21st century.
The Australia incident wasn’t a one-off with several other missteps in communication hindering Hamilton’s season. Adding onto team integration difficulties, the SF-25 suffered from extreme sensitivity to ride-height changes which led to detrimental performance.
Porpoising and balance issues plagued the car throughout the season, but the other consequential challenge came from the car’s performance only being extracted when it ran extremely low, leading to excessive plankwear. The latter hurt the team during the second race of the season, the Chinese Grand Prix.
Ferrari had been a strong contender coming into the weekend, with Hamilton grabbing pole position for the sprint race which he converted into a victory. During the main event, the two Ferraris finished fifth and sixth. Following a post-race check, Charles Leclerc’s car was found to be 1kg underweight, while Hamilton’s car had excessive plankwear, leading to disqualification for both cars.
As the season progressed, Hamilton didn’t. His best result of the season was four fourth place finishes. On the other hand, Leclerc was able to claim pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix while in stark comparison, Hamilton’s time was only good enough for 12th. In the post-qualifying interview, Hamilton expressed his bleak outlook on his season and performance:
“It’s me every time. I’m useless, absolutely useless.”
“The team have no problem. You’ve seen the car’s on pole. So we probably need to change driver.”
During the closing half of the season, Hamilton suffered from two DNFs in the Netherlands and Brazil. He also had his worst career qualifying in Las Vegas with a P20 after he was unable to extract any pace from his SF-25. While he was able to recover to eighth in the race, Hamilton expressed his disappointment with his performance:
"It's been the worst season ever. No matter how much I try, it keeps getting worse."
"It's a terrible result. There is nothing positive to take from today," Hamilton bleakly stated.
The challenging season saw Hamilton anticipating the end of that set of regulations soon. However, his outlook on the new regulations left fans wondering what could happen in 2026:
"I'm eager for it to end, I'm looking forward to it ending. I'm not looking forward to the next one.”
The seven-time world champion concluded the season with sixth in the Drivers’ standings, with 156 points, 86 points behind Leclerc in fifth.
2026: A new era?
F1 entered a new era as the sport brought in new technical regulations that opened up the possibility of reshaping the pecking order. As testing began at the start of the year, questions loomed over what team had found the edge over the rest. While it seemed Mercedes once again had cracked another set of regulations, Ferrari stunned the paddock during the second test in Bahrain.
On the first day, Leclerc rolled out of the garage with a previously unseen technical, upon closer inspection the Monégasque’s car featured a ‘blown’ winglet. This meant the diffuser was connected at all times to the rear-wing.
However, what turned heads was Hamilton showcasing an inverted rear-wing. It wasn’t until the car entered straight mode that the innovation became clear. While the other 10 teams opted for the rear to go flat, that of the Ferrari rotated 180-degrees, a creation that further reduced drag.
The innovation was only flashed for a handful of laps before Hamilton entered the pits and the garage curtain was drawn over the car for the remainder of the morning session.
When he later returned in the afternoon, Ferrari had Hamilton simulating race runs, where the Briton clocked in a time of 1:34.408, placing him fourth overall for the second day.
At the end of the session, the drivers simulated a race start, where it became apparent just how quick the Ferrari was off the line, as Hamilton flew past a few drivers when the lights went out, offering another glimpse into the hope for 2026. Following a positive outing at testing, Hamilton stated how this season is the start of something fresh and exciting:
“I generally feel personally in the best place that I’ve been in a long, long time, with rearranging things within my team.
“And then the car, we’ve started off quite well so far. It’s an exciting time with this new generation of car as well, because it’s all brand new – we’re all trying to figure it out on the go.”
While testing was to be taken with a grain of salt as the set-ups and fuel loads of each respective driver was kept under wraps, Australia fast approached to reignite belief within the team. One thing that testing confirmed was Mercedes has the best package so far, as the team took first and second in both qualifying and the race.
However, Ferrari were quick on the heels of the Brackley-based team, with the Scuderia once again showing its lightning speed off the line. As the race settled down, Mercedes built a gap to the Ferraris and Leclerc crossed the line in third with Hamilton behind by just half a second.
In comparison to 2025, Australia was a leap in performance for the team, one that Hamilton once again praised to the media following the race:
“There are lots of positives to take. A couple of more laps and I would have had Charles [Leclerc], so I know we can be fighting for podiums.
“We’re not as fast as Mercedes but we’re right in the fight. We’ve got a lot of work to do to catch them but it’s not impossible.”
“There’s lots and lots of positives to take from today and the car’s feeling great. It was actually a really fun race.”
“But I really think we maximised our result and our performance, and I felt great in the car so I’m really, really excited for the next races.”
The anticipation pays off
As last season’s race in China ended in disappointment for the Ferraris, hope was restored. While Mercedes topped the sheets with another 1-2, Hamilton qualified three and a half seconds behind polesitter Kimi Antonelli. As the race went underway, the Ferrari launched off the line with Hamilton briefly taking the lead before swiftly being overtaken by the eventual race winner Antonelli.
However, after some odd 470 days, a gruelling debut season in Ferrari, his perseverance and determination paid off, as he claimed his first podium for the team.
"I've been pushing for a podium," said Hamilton to the media following the race.
"It's the hardest thing just to get a podium compared to a lot through my career and it was the biggest challenge to get that, and I just had to bide my time.
"I think coming into the season I really cultivated that really positive mental attitude and I'm taking that forward with me."
It is still early days in the season, with the third race taking place in Japan from 27th to 29th March. But one thing is for sure: Ferrari has made a significant step forward in 2026.
After bleak comments about his driving ability and general competitiveness last season, the smile now can’t seem to be taken away from Hamilton. With upgrades coming throughout the season, the only question is how soon could Hamilton claim his Grand Prix first victory in red overalls?
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