Revealed: There is uncertainty swirling around Lewis Hamilton and his uneasy relationships at Ferrari... but here's why there IS hope for the GOAT in 2026

• e-mail

Lewis Hamilton has little more than a cat in hell’s chance of winning an eighth world title. But he has a lifeline to cling on to, and he has not seen too many of those recently.

Of course that does not mean he hasn’t needed them. He has, because the grave fear is that his great talent is in terminal regression. For he turns 41 on Wednesday after enduring by far the worst season of his distinguished career after – let’s be honest – five years of incremental decline.

Hamilton himself would agree with at least part of this gloomy assessment. In his annus horribilis of 2025 at Ferrari, he called his driving ‘absolutely useless’ and said on the spur of the moment that he should be replaced. That was in Hungary after a string of dismal qualifying performances and it formed part of his recurringly despairing post-session comments that spilled out under the influence of adrenaline.

A ‘nightmare’ was another self-lacerating verdict on his debut campaign in red.

But to the lifeline, the one buoy Hamilton can see bobbing on the horizon as he winters in the United States is presented in the form of the sweeping regulations revamp that arrive in this coming season, which begins in Melbourne on March 8.

The remodelled cars, still in gestation, are claimed to be nimbler, and will certainly be shorter, narrower and lighter. The changes are intended to induce more exciting racing, but we have heard that one before! 

Lewis Hamilton had a 'nightmare' season in 2025 but there is hope for an improvement in 2026

The remodelled cars for 2026, still in gestation, are claimed to be nimbler, and will certainly be shorter, narrower and lighter. The changes are intended to induce more exciting racing 

At any rate, the shorter wheelbase should make the cars more responsive through corners.

The changes signify the end of the ground-effect era that ran for four seasons, which, as theory goes, did not suit Hamiton’s late-braking and sharp-cornering style.

Emphasis will move from those intricate floors with their ground-effect tunnels to flatter floors which reduce downforce and raise the ride height. This should accommodate a wider range of driving characteristics.

No wonder Hamilton welcomes this: he achieved just two of his 105 career wins in the ground-effect period and he has repeatedly admitted he will not miss those regulations one jot.

Regardless of whether the new regulations suit him as much as he would hope, the switch at least represents a clean slate for Ferrari, who abandoned all serious development of last year’s inadequate machinery to concentrate on 2026.

‘This generation was probably the worst,’ lamented Hamilton of the ground-effect years, the third regulations overhaul he has experienced since making his debut for McLaren in 2007. The 2014 switch to hybrid-turbo cars best suited him in a peerless Mercedes.

He added: ‘There’s not a single thing I’ll miss about these cars. I’m praying the next one is not worse.’

But we must introduce some further caution to go with his prayers. It is the human component of the equation. Hamilton was hammered by his team-mate Charles Leclerc by 88 points and beat the super-quick Monegasque in just three races last year. That came on the back of his losing season against George Russell at Mercedes, the second such occurrence in their three years together.

Despite the hope, Hamilton is floundering in a foreign team who literally and metaphorically speak another language

Drivers such as champion Lando Norris have left Hamilton in their wake

These reverses leave the impression that a new generation – led by Max Verstappen, with Russell, fresh world champion Lando Norris, Leclerc and Oscar Piastri among the gifted challengers – have snatched the baton from Hamilton’s grasp.

No modern driver has challenged at the front of the field beyond 40. Michael Schumacher chucked in his original retirement to return for the Silver Arrows aged 41 but was a shadow of his previous brilliance.

Nigel Mansell won his title aged 39, making him the oldest world champion for nearly 60 years.

People who should know better cite Fernando Alonso, still going at 43 for Aston Martin, as a riposte to the problem of age, arguing that the Spaniard is still at the top of his game. It’s a stupid bromide. 

I am a great admirer of Alonso’s considerable abilities, but what evidence is there that he's still the power he was? He is not quite. He is still very good, though his team-mate Lance Stroll is not the toughest benchmark.

Back to Hamilton. His decline was underlined by his failure to secure a single podium all season for the first time, with his sprint win in China the single highlight, though that was a mirage as it transpired.

Other pertinent doubts nag. Can Ferrari up their game to produce a competitive car after years of muddle? Is chuckling Fred Vasseur a good enough team principal? He may be, but his CV in Formula One is not encouraging in this regard. During the Frenchman’s tenure at Sauber/Alfa Romeo they finished the constructors’ championship in 10th, eighth, eighth, ninth and sixth places, and without a win.

Is Vasseur even there to stay under the vacillating chairmanship of John Elkann? What if Christian Horner is parachuted in, if the former Red Bull boss does not buy into Alpine and if the 2026 Ferrari is sub-standard? 

Is chuckling Fred Vasseur a good enough team principal for Ferrari? He may be, but his CV in Formula One is not encouraging in this regard

Can Hamilton ever work effectively with his race engineer Riccardo Adami (right), with whom he repeatedly squabbled over the radio? Not on your nelly

Would Horner spell the end for Hamilton? Likely, yes. He might walk out with Vasseur, the baby and the bathwater gone together.

Another query, can Hamilton ever work effectively with his race engineer Riccardo Adami, with whom he repeatedly squabbled over the radio? Not on your nelly.   

I remain unconvinced that Hamilton will win the eighth wonder he dreams of. Too many questions encircle the aging driver, who is in a broader sense floundering in a foreign team who literally and metaphorically speak another language (Adami is an emblem of this).

But there remains that one distant lifeline, the last resort of hope still open to the ‘GOAT’.