Lewis Hamilton 'raging' for 2026 season despite Kim Kardashian rumours

Former Williams F1 boss Claire Williams has said that Lewis Hamilton will be 'raging' to get back to winning ways in 2026.

Hamilton struggled during his first season with Ferrari, not claiming a single grand prix podium, and the seven-time world champion has been enjoying his time away from the track in recent months, hoping to come into the 2026 season refreshed and ready to launch a bigger challenge to team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The Brit faced his biggest ever team-mate defeat to Leclerc last year, and he has now only achieved two grand prix victories in the last four seasons in F1.

Away from the track, Hamilton has been spotted at multiple events with reality TV star and businesswoman Kim Kardashian, including the recent Super Bowl, and this has set tongues wagging about a potential relationship between the pair.

Now, former deputy team principal of the Williams team Claire Williams has said that, although life may be going well for Hamilton away from the track, he will be no less determined to beat all his rivals in 2026, and claim a record-breaking eighth world championship.

Speaking to the Business of Sport podcast, Williams said: "Do you know, you’d be surprised actually. These racing drivers, they actually don’t really give a s*** about anything else. All they want is to win, and in someone like Lewis, it is almost like oxygen. And Lewis will need that, Formula 1 is like that.

"I was never at that level but not being in the sport feels bereft, not being in the sport. Lewis isn’t just going to go, you know, ‘who cares? I’m worth however much I’m worth and I’m now with a Kardashian and whatever, who cares if I don’t do well this year?’ He will be raging to do well.

"But he’s quite good at retaining his privacy. I mean, as much as we all know Lewis and see him out, how much do you actually really see him out? He is private and he has a singular focus, Lewis.

"You know, for all the outfits or whatever, that’s his personal thing but he is blinkered. Don’t underestimate that and I think he’ll always remain so, because he just got that brain."

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Can Hamilton win again in 2026?

Hamilton's poor form in 2025 can be caveated by the fact that Ferrari also had a very poor car, and the Brit was often left fighting for a top-five finish at best.

The hope for the 41-year-old this year will be the new regulation changes which are sweeping into the sport. The new regulations could well give Ferrari the chance to make up ground on the likes of Mercedes and McLaren.

On top of this, Hamilton will get the opportunity to drive a completely new generation of car, with the Brit struggling largely throughout the previous ground effect era.

While an eighth world title might be a bit of a stretch for the 41-year-old in 2026, he will hope to be in contention for regular race victories, and be closer to his team-mate, in what is the final year of his current contract with the Maranello-based outfit.

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