F1 News: Lewis Hamilton expects Mercedes penalties as big issue comes into play

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton expects Mercedes penalties as big issue looms large in title race

Hamilton is in the title hunt

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Thursday 9 July 2026 08:56 Updated: 09:02

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Lewis Hamilton expects reliability to be a crucial factor in the F1 title race with grid penalties likely incoming for Mercedes.

The Ferrari superstar trails Kimi Antonelli by 32 points at the top of the drivers' standings and is just seven behind the Italian's second-placed team-mate George Russell.

But in recent races Hamilton and Ferrari have really closed that gap, thanks in no small part to reliability issues for Mercedes.

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Antonelli's victory hopes were dashed at Silverstone on Sunday by an issue with a wheel rim, but before that both he and Russell have been forced to DNF from races with battery issues.

Russell was leading in Canada when his race ended early, while any hope Antonelli had of chasing down Hamilton was scuppered in Barcelona.

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Hamilton asks Mercedes battery question

With the number of battery components strictly limited under the FIA regulations, seven-time world champion Hamilton believes Mercedes will likely pay the price with grid penalties at some stage.

“You’re seeing Mercedes, maybe Mercedes engines in general have had more issues this year than they normally would have, and I don’t know what the situation on the battery side of this for George and for Kimi," he said.

Russell and Antonelli are heading for grid penalties.

"But I’m sure that at some point there must be a penalty, I would imagine, in the sense that we only have, was it two battery cells or something like that?

“That’s going to be key for us, is just holding on to this, maximising the points, executing to the best of our ability, even when it’s the case that we can’t win.”

Ferrari are executing every weekend

Hamilton meanwhile has been supremely impressed by the way his Ferrari team have maximised everything this season, praising process and execution on race weekends.

“Massively impressed, massively impressed. I think we came into the season knowing that we needed to level up in processes and just how we executed on race weekends, and that’s something that we were pushing for last year.

“Every single individual brings so much to the table and is bringing their best to the table, and the guys in the garage work so hard for the pit stops.

"We’ve got great pit stops, and then everyone back in the factory has worked so hard to bring this consistency, and that’s really what I think ultimately is going to make the difference this year."

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F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes