Lewis Hamilton quashes common theory over 2026 generation of F1 car

Lewis Hamilton has quashed the theory that his improved performances in 2026 are down to the regulations suiting his driving style more than ground effects.

Hamilton endured the worst season of his career in the final year of ground effects in 2025, his first with Ferrari, as he failed to score a grand prix podium for the first time, although he did win the Chinese Sprint. 

Across the season, he scored 156 points in total, but heading into the summer break of 2026, he has 169 to his name, including five podiums from six races, and finally claimed his first win for the team in a grand prix in Barcelona - his first since 2024.

Hamilton has been vocal that the current Ferrari contains more of his racing DNA as opposed to the SF-25, which he inherited from Carlos Sainz, but there are key differences with how the 2025 and 2026 cars must be driven.

The 2025 machines rewarded a so-called 'U-ing' driving style, where a driver would brake early for a corner and then roll the speed through the apex. Hamilton has long favoured a late, aggressive braking style and sudden turn-in, known as 'V-ing' the corner. 

That style is more attuned to the 2017-2021 style of car Hamilton used to claim four of his seven titles and 50 of his 84 wins for Mercedes.

However, the Briton does not feel that the 2026 required driving style is "more rewarding to anybody" and that he has not been required to make more changes than normal. 

"I don't think it's more particularly more rewarding to anybody," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365. 

"I think we've all had to make adjustments. I don't feel like I've made more adjustments than in any other era.

"I think ultimately, I can drive it differently for sure. I can drive it a little bit more like previous generations of cars, though the races that I won in the previous generations of cars, I drove exactly the same as I do today. 

"So there's all this talk of how that generation of cars suited me, and I still won more races than most, probably in that period of time. But the cars of today are just a little bit easier, more forgiving, and lighter. 

"We haven't got bouncing; the throttle and power application takes a lot of work, and tuning through that is just another element you have to do with the engineers, whereas before it was just about drivability, whilst today, it is drivability, where you're deploying, and you're changing that all the time, and understanding that you can actually have an effect by going half throttle, throttle on, throttle 10% off. 

"That changes the deployment through the lap, so understanding that is even more crucial than ever before."