Lewis Hamilton 'looking forward' to season end...but not 2026

Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he is not looking forward to 2026, as the length of his Ferrari contract remains officially unknown.

Hamilton has had a terrible first campaign in red and is yet to pick up a single grand prix podium, finding himself in a battle for sixth in the drivers' championship with 19-year-old rookie Kimi Antonelli as a result.

At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Hamilton qualified plum last - the first time that has happened on pure pace in his whole career - before then starting from P19 after Yuki Tsunoda opted to start from the pit lane.

Hamilton did manage to make up places early on, but found himself stuck behind the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg, unable to get close enough to challenge the German.

He crossed the line in 10th, before the disqualifications of McLaren stars Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri promoted him up to eighth. Nonetheless, the poor result has all but ended Ferrari's hopes of claiming second in the constructors' championship in 2025.

After the race, a downbeat Hamilton reflected on his performance, and suggested that he is looking forward to putting 2025 behind him, but is not looking forward to next season.

"It's a terrible result," Hamilton told BBC Radio 5 Live. "There is nothing positive to take from today.

"I'm eager for it to end, I'm looking forward to it ending. I'm not looking forward to the next one."

Asked if that meant he was not looking forward to the next race in Qatar, Hamilton replied: "Next season."

Why might 2026 be different for Hamilton?

It has been clear throughout 2025 that Hamilton has not been a match for the pace of his younger team-mate Charles Leclerc, who has maximised the poor performance of the Ferrari to claim seven grand prix podiums.

Leclerc, Max Verstappen, the two McLaren drivers and George Russell have all vastly outperformed Hamilton in 2025, and he has never looked further from a world championship than he does right now.

However, 2026 sees wholesale regulation changes sweeping into F1, meaning a whole new generation of cars and power units.

Not only might this see Ferrari make a jump on their competitors and be challenging nearer to the front once more, but it also might mean that Hamilton is driving a generation of car that is more suited to his talents.

Since the current regulations came in back in 2022, Hamilton has won just two grands prix across four seasons, and has only beaten a team-mate once across those years.

The 40-year-old has remained relatively upbeat about starting fresh in 2026 throughout this season, with his comments after Vegas perhaps simply a reflection of his immediate disappointment after the grand prix.

His Ferrari contract was initially believed to see him through until at least the end of 2026, though some reports have claimed the champion is set to remain with the Scuderia beyond that. But frequent talk of retirement often surrounds Hamilton when he delivers downbeat statements like this one!

However, many are wondering if the new 2026 machinery could see the F1 legend return to the kind of form that only saw him miss out on the title at the final race of the season back in 2021.

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