F1 legend Lewis Hamilton claims Ferrari are 'one million times better'

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton claims Ferrari are 'one million times better'

Lewis Hamilton has had a successful run of weekends with Ferrari

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 11 June 2026 18:51

Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton has decreed his 2026 season with Ferrari to be a 'million times' better than the year prior - which isn't hard to beat, when you think about.

At the end of the 2025 season, there were question marks over whether Hamilton had the mettle to race another year with Ferrari after a disastrous start to his highly-anticipated maiden campaign.

Not a single grand prix podium came Hamilton's way, and doubt even crept into his own mind, delivering a series of tense post-race interviews where he claimed he wasn't fast anymore.

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The 2025 nightmare could be put down to a variety of factors for Hamilton; from the ground effect cars that never suited his driving style to focused development on 2026 and even his own teething issues at Ferrari when it came to his background team.

Hamilton praises Vasseur and Ferrari

In 2026, however, we're catching glimmers of the Hamilton of old, achieving his first grand prix podium with Ferrari in China, before claiming back-to-back second-place finishes in Canada and Monaco.

Thanks to George Russell's shocking misfortune in both of those rounds, Hamilton finds himself second in the championship - albeit 66 points behind Kimi Antonelli - and ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc.

But Hamilton's refusing to focus on all of that. Instead, he's highlighted how the team has rebuilt and the internal work they have undertaken to return Ferrari to the top.

Speaking to the media at the Monaco Grand Prix, Hamilton revealed what exactly had changed at the team to see such a swing in improvement from last year.

"I came to a team that has everything it needs to succeed, but it is just putting the pieces of the puzzle in the right place, and I've been 100 per cent committed to getting to that point," Hamilton explained.

"Fred [Vasseur] has been great when working with me and helping engineers, with the set-up being one million times better than it was last year, and I'm starting to see the fruits of driving the car last year, and I asked for certain things, and we have those today, for example, the suspension.

"So it is great to work with everyone to move the ship and steer it in the right direction, but there is still a way to go."

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari