Lewis Hamilton is back, Ferrari is changing and at last the future is bright

Seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has suggested that his team are 'making progress' and implementing the changes that he and Charles Leclerc have been calling for.

Hamilton's form has been much better in recent race weekends, and the 40-year-old achieved his best grand prix qualifying result of the season at last weekend's Mexican Grand Prix.

He ultimately missed out on a first Ferrari podium due to a 10-second time penalty that was handed to him by FIA race stewards, which Sky Sports F1's Karun Chandhok described as 'harsh'.

But Hamilton has earned 37 points in the last five race weekends, despite being hit by penalty drama at three of those five events, and those points have really helped Ferrari's pursuit of a second-place finish in the constructors' championship.

So, is Hamilton back? And are things looking pretty rosy for 2026?

Ferrari's 2026 future looks bright

Of course, while Hamilton was struggling for form compared to team-mate Leclerc in the early part of the season, a lot of people pointed to the fact that Hamilton had been driving Mercedes-powered cars for his whole career, and had been at one team for 12 seasons, and now all of a sudden he was in a new environment and driving Ferrari-powered cars.

There was also the hope that, no matter what happened in 2025, 2026 offered hope due to the fact Hamilton will be racing a completely new generation of cars, and Ferrari may just be able to make a jump on their rivals with the wholesale regulation changes.

Hamilton will, indeed, be very grateful to get rid of the current cars that have been in F1 since 2022. He's achieved just two race wins since the start of 2022, a measly return for somebody who has 105 career grand prix wins.

While that 2026 hope still remains, there's also a new-found hope that the relationship between driver and team is really strengthening, and that Ferrari are listening to the concerns of both Hamilton and Leclerc.

There is so much that they can learn from Hamilton. The last time Ferrari won a championship of any kind was 2008, the year that Hamilton won his first drivers' title.

Since then, Hamilton has won six more, while Ferrari have had a dismal dry spell, and are now trying to return to championship success with Hamilton.

"I feel like we're going in the right direction: Rome wasn't built in a day, it takes time," Hamilton told media ahead of the Mexican GP. "Being in my first year with the team, I wanted to be respectful of how they've done things in the past and simply observe and see what our strengths and weaknesses are, to highlight the areas we need to work on.

"I think we're starting to see some of the impact of the work we're doing behind the scenes. I feel like the team is responding, and I hope this work will also have an impact on next year's car. The SF-25 is a car I haven't helped develop over the years. Hopefully, from next year, my contribution will be incorporated into the 2026 single-seater, which will be a car I have contributed or will contribute to.

"I think we're really making progress with the team and that we have a great relationship, especially after the summer break," Hamilton continued. "It's about building trust and communication. I'm joining a team where English isn't the first language, and I don't speak Italian, so it's about finding common ground. And the fact is, we all want to win.

"We're all here for the same goal, and we just have to keep pushing. That's why I try to keep everyone motivated on difficult weekends, trying to keep morale high. But this year, we've changed many, many things that I suggested and hadn't been done in the past, so they listened to me.

"Not everything changes immediately; it takes time. And the engineers need proof, numbers. That's what they work on. So sometimes you have to push to get certain changes."

Hamilton is still yet to achieve a grand prix podium with Ferrari since joining in January, but already things feel much more positive, and as team principal Fred Vasseur recently said, "Hamilton is back."

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