Lewis Hamilton makes Ferrari 'silver bullet' claim in Mercedes title chase

Lewis Hamilton does not believe Ferrari's recent F1 engine upgrade is the "silver bullet" required to get the team on par with Mercedes.

Ferrari was awarded ADUO by the FIA to bring two upgrades to its power unit in 2026 and another two in 2027, with the team bringing the first at the Italian Grand Prix, focused on its turbo.

At the start of the season, the team focused its design of this component on making it smaller, which reduces turbo lag and makes the car responsive off the line and on throttle application out of corners - but does mean that it lacks top-end straight-line speed.

Mercedes is also expected to introduce its own ADUO-boosted engine before the end of the season, with George Russell waiting until it is ready before taking his new unit. 

But for Hamilton, he feels that whilst Ferrari has made steps in the right direction, the team has not yet found its "silver bullet".

"If you look at [the Italian Grand Prix], they were six-tenths quicker on the straights, and at most other tracks, it is three or four tenths," Hamilton told the media, including RacingNews365.

"So, I think we've done a really great job given that we've had that deficit, and we continue to make improvements to the car. We've made improvements to the engine. We knew that the last upgrade wasn't going to be the silver bullet and close that gap completely. 

"But for me, it's really positive to see us continuously stepping forward very quickly, and it's not easy."

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Hamilton focused only on Ferrari

As Hamilton's title hopes fade after falling to 101 points behind Kimi Antonelli after his DNF in the Spanish GP, he believes the team must simply focus on its own execution, after a messy period in which he received a number of grid penalties, including for impeding Oscar Piastri in qualifying in Hungary. 

"So, rather than focus on them, they're not a focus for me at the moment," he said.

"Our focus should just be on how we can do our best and execute our best on our weekends. Because there'll be weekends where they're exceptional, and there'll be weekends where they maybe drop the ball.

"As long as we just focus on our consistency and trying to optimise our weekends, maybe there's an immediate moment where we can capitalise on perhaps their shortcomings."