Lewis Hamilton merely 'surviving' at Ferrari as F1 legend hit by chronic issue

F1 legend Lewis Hamilton came away from last weekend's Miami Grand Prix with a disappointing result, with Italian media claiming he was merely surviving at the wheel of his SF-26, not racing.

The seven-time champion adopted a measured yet optimistic attitude on Friday in Miami ahead of the second sprint weekend of the season, and after a five-week enforced break, was raring to go.

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Both of last month's Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix were cancelled as a result of the war between Iran, the US, and Israel, with no alternative races selected as replacements.

Instead, many teams including Ferrari used the unplanned time off to fine-tune their 2026 setups, with Hamilton making use of the Scuderia's private testing track in Fiorano and their state-of-the-art simulators, which now appear to have led him astray.

But they weren't the only constructor who put in the work during the spring break, with reigning champions McLaren and rivals Red Bull showing off significant improvements in Miami.

After a P7 finish in the Miami sprint and a final P6 grand prix result last Sunday (he was bumped up a place after Charles Leclerc was handed a 20-second penalty) Hamilton only added 10 points to his tally and is now tied with Lando Norris in the standings.

Following an underwhelming weekend for both he and Leclerc, the cracks are starting to show for the Italian squad once again.

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Ferrari taking backwards steps, Italian media not impressed

After Sunday's main event had concluded, Hamilton told media he felt as if he was in 'no-man’s land' having been way off the pace in both the 100km event and 57-lap race.

Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote of Hamilton's Miami weekend: "It was a weekend of survival rather than racing. The causes overlapped in an almost cruel way," before going on to claim the a major issue with Ferrari's power unit was holding the 41-year-old back.

"The Ferrari power unit showed a chronic lack of power, exacerbated by the high temperatures that forced Hamilton to manage his pace.

"Added to this was an early-race collision with Franco Colapinto that damaged the underbody of the SF-26, resulting in an estimated loss of between 10 and 15 downforce points: enough to make the car unpredictable in high-speed corners.

"What weighs most heavily, however, is perhaps the lack of correlation between the simulations and the actual feel on the track. Despite intensive work on the simulator in the preceding weeks, the seven-time world champion failed to set the pace. He is expected to be in constant battle with Leclerc throughout qualifying and the race. Yesterday, he only stayed ahead of him because of the Monegasque driver’s penalty."

And it wasn't just the above publication who were less than impressed by the Scuderia's decline. Corriere della Sera reported similar after the results in Miami seemed to indicate a step in the wrong direction, writing: "The impression remains that he’s taking a step backward (or rather, on the Scuderia) compared to the promising signs from the first few races.

"Yellow card: the much-hyped evolution of the SF-26 has, for now, produced only the worst result of the season in the main race (and please don’t cling to Leclerc’s podium finish in the sprint). Are we back to bold claims that are then contradicted by the facts? They wanted to dance the Macarena with the new rotating wing (named after the dance that became famous in Spain in the ’90s), but all we saw was the “qua qua” dance."

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Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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