Lewis Hamilton delivers powerful F1 statement lamenting 'horrendous' Ferrari year

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Montreal, Canada, 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

Monaco Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton delivers powerful F1 statement lamenting 'horrendous' Ferrari year

Is Hamilton now Ferrari's team leader?

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 8 June 2026 08:00

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Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton is a world away from the struggling driver he was last year at Ferrari, and praised his growing strength in the team after the Monaco Grand Prix.

While Ferrari didn't quite live up to the dominant potential predicted ahead of the Monaco weekend, Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc still put on a strong showing on Saturday where they qualified third and fourth respectively.

Max Verstappen's engine problems at the start saw him stall on the grid, allowing Hamilton and Leclerc to move up a place each, but ultimately they were unable to catch race winner Kimi Antonelli.

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The race ended catastrophically for Leclerc, who crashed after the first safety car restart and left his home race pointless. Hamilton, on the other hand, finished P2 and has moved up to second in the championship standings after George Russell failed to score a point.

This means the Ferrari star is now 66 points behind championship leader Antonelli, in a major turnaround from his troubling debut season in 2025.

F1 RESULTS: Monaco GP race times and positions

Hamilton 'reigniting' Ferrari passion

Last year, Hamilton failed to even stand on the grand prix podium, whereas in 2026 he already has three to his name. Coupled with a better working relationship with his side of the garage, including race engineer Carlo Santi, Hamilton is finally starting to settle into a leadership role at Ferrari.

Speaking to Sky Sports' Natalie Pinkham after the Monaco GP, Hamilton outlined this transition and described the 2025 season as 'horrendous'.

Hamilton started by congratulating Antonelli, and said: "Kimi was amazing today. It's been an amazing weekend. Mercedes clearly have been ahead of everybody for quite some time, and we couldn't match them.

“Unfortunately, he did a phenomenal job. I'm so, so grateful that I get to witness him in his moment, and this is his moment.

Hamilton had high praise for the brilliant Antonelli.

“So I'm really grateful that I could just be up there and get to share it and see that. Very, very thankful to my team, because coming from such a horrendous year last year, finally in the position where I'm like reigniting the passion, and belief that they had in me when I first joined, and after a really big slump we had last year to come back up. It's great to see the fight in them. They did a fantastic job, and we've got a lot of work to try and close that gap.”

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Monaco Grand Prix