Lewis Hamilton identifies “priority” with Ferrari for 2026 season

Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton moved from Mercedes to Ferrari with the hopes of winning his eighth F1 title. However, it seems to be a distant dream as the Scuderia trails McLaren and Mercedes in the constructors' championship. The Briton recently came out and identified how a race-winning car was his priority with Ferrari for the 2026 season.

George Russell won the 2025 Canadian GP, which put Mercedes on the race-winner board alongside Red Bull and McLaren. Ferrari is the only top team that hasn't won a single race in the 2025 season so far.

Lewis Hamilton reflected on the performance of the SF25 after the Canadian GP. As the Briton talked about the performance and the upgrades brought by Ferrari, he also noted his priority with the Scuderia for the 2026 season. Lewis Hamilton detailed how a race-winning car was a must for him and the Italian team in the upcoming season.

Lewis Hamilton said (via RacingNews365):

“There's been times in my career where you've had a whole bunch of upgrades very, very early on in the season, and then you plough ahead very early, and then you stop and taper off. And sometimes it's been slower. Here, it's also in the last year of this generation of cars, harder to find performance. And also, keep the focus on next year.

"The fact is, with this car, hopefully we can still fight for second in the constructors'. That would be great. But I want a car that can win next year. So, that's priority,” added Lewis Hamilton

The 2026 season will bring a new set of regulations, which will change the chassis and the power units. The last major changes in power units came over a decade ago in 2014 when F1 moved away from the naturally aspirated V8s to the 1.6L Turbo Hybrid engines.

The regulations will level the playing field for all the competitors

Lewis Hamilton recommends that Ferrari shift its focus to the 2026 car

Lewis Hamilton brought a major upgrade package to the SF25 as the European leg of the season began. However, the Scuderia were still at least a couple of tenths off the pace of McLaren. When Hamilton was asked if Ferrari had any upgrades in the pipeline to catch the Papaya team, the Briton recommended that the team shift focus to next year's car. He said:

“I don’t know, if I’m honest. I don’t know what upgrades we have coming. We haven’t had an upgrade for quite some time. We’ll keep pushing with what we have, but before too soon I’ll be just saying focus on next year. So building foundations this year, learning about the tools in terms of structure, in terms of our processes, nailing those so when we arrive next year we’ll be with the car that we really want.”

Ferrari is reported to bring a new set of upgrades to the Austrian GP, which includes an improved rear suspension.