Lewis Hamilton, Monaco, 2026

Lewis Hamilton admitted he experienced moments of self-doubt following his move to Ferrari, before scoring his first win for the team last weekend.

The seven-times world champion moved to Ferrari after a lean spell at Mercedes. He won just twice in four years for his previous team, and the second of those at Spa in 2024 came as a result of his team mate’s disqualification.

In his first season at Ferrari, Hamilton never finished on the podium in a grand prix. He was often sharply critical of his driving out of the car and admitted he had genuine concerns over his competitiveness prior to his 20th season in Formula 1.

“The [win] in Silverstone in 2024 was in its own way a monumental moment for me, because it’s a moment where I never thought maybe that I’d ever get to win again,” said Hamilton. “Then after a year like last year, there was definitely moments that I was like, ‘Sheesh, maybe it is true that, you know, when you get to a certain point, you lose it.’

“But I’ve proven that you don’t. You always have it and it just takes work. It takes perseverance, that constant believing in yourself to tap into your inner self and keep yourself alive.”

Hamilton’s win followed second-place finishes in the previous two rounds. In Monaco he shared the podium with Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar – two drivers whose combined ages amount to less than that of 41-year-old Ferrari driver.

However Hamilton says he still feels strong enough to compete with F1’s new generation of drivers. “I feel great physically. I’m racing with 19-year-olds who are doing amazing, but I feel great.”

Ferrari brought a significant upgrade for their car at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Hamilton said he is pleased to see the amount of development which is going on at the team this year.

“It’s so early in the season to get to this point. These guys have really listened and really worked hard to add performance and be innovative.

“This year is all about innovation. We came out with the bit on the rear exhaust. We came out with the rear wing, the ‘Macarena’. This is what I was asking for last year. It was like this team has to be the leaders in that, and they’ve shown that they can and they will.

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. By no means is this something that’s just going to happen all the time. We’ve got a heavy, heavy, steep mountain to climb up ahead of us to try to do this as Mercedes has all year so far.”

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2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine

Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing.