The Ferrari 'conspiracy' at the F1 Japanese Grand Prix that could worry Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton looks on with the Japan flag in the background — Photo: © IMAGO

Ferrari

The Ferrari 'conspiracy' at the Japanese Grand Prix that could worry Lewis Hamilton

A Ferrari 'conspiracy' could come ahead during the F1 2026 season

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Saturday 28 March 2026 15:23

We are still in the very early days of the 2026 Formula 1 season, but it's not a ridiculous notion to suggest Ferrari could be title challengers.

On the small sample of two races, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have both put up a fight to Mercedes, who admittedly with two one-two finishes in Australia and China are firm favourites right now.

But make no mistake you can't rule out Ferrari yet, in the same way you can rule out Aston Martin. So the title is in play, but who would Ferrari want to end their 19-year wait for a drivers' world championship?

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A strange question to ask, you may think. Surely, the Maranello outfit and the tifosi would just snap your hand off to see either Hamilton or Leclerc become the first driver since Kimi Raikkonen to become world champion in a Ferrari.

Eddie Irvine and the 1999 F1 title battle

Now is perhaps a good time to raise a question on this ahead of this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, as it was at Suzuka in 1999 when Ferrari favouritism, stretched towards conspiracy among many fans.

It was the final race of the season and the world championship was a straight fight between Ferrari's Eddie Irvine and fierce enemies McLaren and Mika Hakkinen.

Where was Michael Schumacher you may ask? Some broken legs after a crash at the British Grand Prix earlier in the season ruled the German out of the title race. By the time he came back for the final two grands prix, he had long been out of contention.

Irvine led the championship by four points heading into the final race, but both he and Hakkinen's title destiny were in their own hands. It was winner takes all. Irvine was on the cusp of becoming Ferrari's first world championship since Jody Scheckter in 1979.

The Northern Irishman had a reasonable record at Suzuka, but on the title deciding weekend he was well off the pace. He qualified in fifth having crashed in qualifying and was over 1.5 seconds off Schumacher's pole lap. Come the race he climbed up to third, but was still over a minute-and-a-half down on Hakkinen and Schumacher by the end of the race. In essence he was nearly lapped.

Ferrari favouritism?

Michael Schumacher, Eddie Irvine and Mika Hakkinen stand on the 1999 Japanese Grand Prix podium

To this day fans, rage on what really happened to Irvine's pace at Suzuka, many citing a conspiracy that Ferrari wanted Schumacher to win the title before Irvine given he was the big investment. Watch Ferrari trying to engineer a pit-stop for Irvine late on in the season at the European Grand Prix and you can understand why.

But would Ferrari really bring back Schumacher with two races to go if the intention was to lose Irvine the title? His supreme drive allowed Irvine to win the penultimate race of the season in Malaysia while holding off Hakkinen in the process. That gave Irvine the huge opportunity at Suzuka in the first place. You can't ignore the possibility that Irvine just choked that weekend under the pressure.

Regardless what your personal thoughts are on this matter, the notion of teams with conspiracies to favour either driver continue to this day. Look at the ridiculous one peddled by Oscar Piastri's fans on McLaren favouring Lando Norris last season.

Should Lewis Hamilton be concerned?

Drivers are exposed to this though, so you can forgive Hamilton for a slight doubt that maybe Leclerc is the favoured son in the team. He has been there since 2019, and has an excellent bond with the team and fans. Leclerc was born to be a Ferrari driver.

But Hamilton isn't like Irvine. He isn't a No. 2 driver. Ferrari have paid a fortune for him to be at the team and would reap all the marketing and commercial benefits of him being world champion.

So take this article as an early warning. Ferrari don't operate a one-two driver policy these days.

Leclerc and Hamilton are just as valuable to the team so before we get some nonsense conspiracy theory on par with McLaren last year or flat earthers, Ferrari will be doing all they can to help both of their drivers topple this early season Mercedes domination. They simply cannot afford to go any other way.

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Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Charles Leclerc Michael Schumacher Japanese Grand Prix