Lewis Hamilton faces ultimate F1 test as Ferrari title dreams crushed in Miami

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton faces ultimate F1 test as Ferrari title dreams crushed in Miami

Ferrari haunted by Miami Grand Prix statistic

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Saturday 2 May 2026 14:27

If Lewis Hamilton needed reminding of just how tough he has it at Ferrari, this weekend's Miami Grand Prix offers everything he needs to know.

There are two reasons the British star joined Ferrari, one was to drive for the most iconic and famous team in F1, the other was to win an unprecedented eighth world championship.

Hamilton will have no regrets over ever driving for Ferrari, no F1 driver would, it's a huge honour regardless of whether you're a driver making up the numbers on the grid or one going for world championships every year.

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But if the 41-year-old thought he had the magic touch to end Ferrari's driver title drought that stretches back to Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, he has been given a nasty shock.

Lewis Hamilton on the back foot

Hamilton's first season with Ferrari in 2025 was a flop. For the first time in his career he ended a campaign (which had a record 24 races) without a podium. His team-mate Charles Leclerc had seven.

Encouragingly, Hamilton has looked a little closer to Leclerc this season but that won't be enough, beating him won't even be enough.

Hamilton must win a title for his Ferrari career to be regarded as any sort of success, and the Miami Grand Prix this weeeknd brings up a statistic that leaves that target feeling a long way off.

The Miami Grand Prix at the Hard Rock Stadium is the venue for the last time Ferrari led the drivers' world championship back on May 8 in 2022, with Charles Leclerc exiting the weekend a comfortable 19 points ahead of Max Verstappen, at least on paper.

In reality, the Dutchman made a mockery of Ferrari's all-front row to win the inaugural Miami race as the title battle swung towards Red Bull. Leclerc's turbo failure combined with Verstappen's win at the next race in Spain dethroned Ferrari and they haven't even looked close to returning to the top since.

We may even be looking too far ahead when it comes to talking about championships.

When did Ferrari last win a race?

Ferrari haven't won a grand prix since Carlos Sainz triumphed in the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix, although Lewis Hamilton did win the 2025 China sprint race.

Basically, to win championships you realistically need to win races (duh!) and Ferrari haven't been doing that regularly for nearly two years now.

Now you may argue that this year is looking like they are best equipped to challenge since those fun early days of 2022 but there are two issues Ferrari face.

The first is that Mercedes have come out flying in the first three races and no one has had an answer to their pace.

Ferrari's worst enemy is Ferrari

The second is Ferrari themselves. This isn't a team famous for nailing the development game during the season. You could argue that not since the Michael Schumacher years, and we are talking two decades ago now, have they generally improved the car relative to rivals during a season.

At best it stagnates, often it gets worse at the worst times. Think title battles of 2017 with Sebastian Vettel or even again with the four-time world champion in 2018 when they made the car worse with their 'upgrades'.

They started 2022 with the best car, and yet just a few races later were trailing behind Red Bull never to recover. The omens certainly are not good for a title challenge here.

While Ferrari are the current lead contenders to Mercedes, they enter the Miami Grand Prix off the pace of the Silver Arrows and with a history of not being able to close the gap.

Hamilton then has his work cut out to get Ferrari winning again and if he fails to do so, likely has to face up that while he won't regret his Maranello move he may have to digest that he has jumped out of a championship winning Mercedes car.

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.

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F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Miami Grand Prix