Lewis Hamilton love match 'inspiring' as F1 legend claps back at critics

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton love match 'inspiring' as F1 legend claps back at critics

The seven-time champion is now enjoying life at Maranello

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Tuesday 7 April 2026 22:20

Lewis Hamilton has clapped back at his F1 critics as he puts a miserable debut season at Ferrari behind him.

The seven-time world champion endured a miserable first year at Maranello in 2025 after a blockbusting move to Italy.

The match made in F1 heaven failed to bring the desired results as the 41-year-old Hamilton finished only sixth in the final drivers' standings - a massive 267 points behind eventual world champion Lando Norris.

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Lewis understands that questions would be asked after a campaign which saw him down and despondent on more than one occasion. But what he really noticed was the criticism from people who he says have never come close to his level of success.

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Hamilton on F1 critics

Speaking to the official F1 website, he revealed: "I mean I would say when you have difficult years, there are lots of questions all over the place.

"Ultimately, I saw some of the certain individuals who have not had anything near the success I have had just talking negatively as they continue to do so today. And it felt great to be able to come back, to come into this season and start off strong, to be able to show that I still have what it takes to be able to compete at the front and I’ll continue to show up and try to deliver in that way."

Hamilton's move to Ferrari was a challenging one for the British star, the kind of life change he believes is often underestimated.

"It is a huge difference and a huge undertaking and I think people, for sure when they watch, they will not understand how big it is when you move to a new team.

"Of course, you can arrive and jump into a cockpit but learning the new tools, particularly a new culture and a new way that people like to work and adopting that into the way you like to work.

"And then, if you look at last year for example, it was the end of an era of cars that we didn’t develop throughout the year, so we were kind of stuck with what we had, which ultimately wasn’t good enough for us to compete for wins. But we took so many learnings throughout last year as a team, and we are applying those to this year and it has started off so much better."

Ferrari love match 'inspiring' for Lewis

Year two has been a huge improvement so far for Hamilton - he is enjoying his racing again and currently sits fourth in the early-season standings.

The former Mercedes great is clearly coming to terms with his new surroundings, and the bond with his new team is absolutely growing.

"Everyone is flat out pushing and honestly it is really, really inspiring to see.

"Whenever you work within a great organisation, and you go and see back at the factory, and you see everyone heads down pushing flat out for every millisecond.

"Those are the bits that I love the most about this sport, and that I wish people got to see. That’s where you go back and get inspired and go okay, the guys are really on it and I’m excited for the next couple of months."

Now Hamilton and Ferrari must deal with an unexpected race hiatus after the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix. He sees it as an opportunity to reset ahead of the Miami Grand Prix on May 3.

"Obviously this break we have coming up is weird, but it gives us time to really digest the first three races and work even harder to bring more performance to the next one."

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari