Lewis Hamilton F1 podium isn't to be celebrated as Ferrari should be worried

Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton podium isn't to be celebrated as Ferrari should be worried

Hamilton finished a Ferrari best third at the Shanghai circuit

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Monday 16 March 2026 09:11

There were plenty of smiles on Lewis Hamilton's side of the Ferrari garage after the Chinese Grand Prix and rightly so.

The seven-time world champion finally ended his 27-race streak without a podium, 25 of those for Ferrari as he finally secured a first top-three finish for the Maranello outfit at Shanghai.

Hamilton came off the better driver in a ding-dong battle with Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc to grab the final podium spot behind maiden F1 race winner Kimi Antonelli and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell.

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The result follows the same pattern from the Australian Grand Prix in that Ferrari are the clear chief challengers to the Silver Arrows, and that's better than being distant also-rans like Red Bull and McLaren (if they run at all) or having a bag of bits Aston Martin unable to see a chequered flag.

Ferrari have a huge Mercedes problem

But Ferrari are the most successful F1 team in history, winning the most drivers' and constructors' championships. None of those have come in the last 18 years. That's a huge failure for the team.

So while there can be smiles that Hamilton is finally starting to find the groove at Ferrari there should be faces of horror at how far they are behind Mercedes.

Despite having a car that saw him rocket into the lead at the start of the race (before being passed), and with a safety car also reducing a six-second lead Antonelli built up early on, Hamilton was still over 25 seconds down on the lead Mercedes by the flag. In F1 terms that's a chasm.

The good news for Ferrari is that team boss Fred Vasseur is well aware of this, congratulating Hamilton on his podium but knowing the bigger prize at play:

"It's an important step. The first one, it's important. I'm sure that it will help us to come back, he reflected on the British star's podium to Sky Sports.

"Now the target is Mercedes. We have to be lucid - it's a good weekend overall but we are still far away of the Merc, who still have four or five tenths. It's a lot."

Ferrari's plan to reduce the gap

Vasseur believes Ferrari need to find another half-a-second to get on top of Mercedes early domination, but believes these gains are going to have to come from everywhere.

He added: "We are not only working on the power unit, we are working everywhere. The power unit is a bit more difficult because until the ADUO [Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities] it is frozen, but let's try to do the best.

"We will not find a magic bullet at five tenths, I think it's probably better to find five topics at one tenth."

While Ferrari can be happy with the Lewis revival, it simply isn't enough now. Top three finishes for any of their driver will soon become irrelevant if they can't stop the Mercedes juggernaut.

Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes Chinese Grand Prix Fred Vasseur