F1 British Grand Prix win was bad news for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari as title race gets spicy

Vasseur and Hamilton side by side looking concerned with black and white image of Leclerc spraying champagne on Silverstone podium. Black background with sparks flying — Photo: © IMAGO

Ferrari F1

British Grand Prix win was bad news for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari as F1 title race gets spicy

Nobody saw this coming...

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Thursday 9 July 2026 10:58 Updated: 13:06

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When Lewis Hamilton finally brought an end to his 686-day grand prix win drought last month, fans of the seven-time world champion started dreaming of a follow-up at the British Grand Prix.

Hamilton has won his home race at Silverstone a record nine times, but fell short of topping the podium for a 10th time on Sunday.

Instead it was his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc who celebrated success on Hamilton's home turf, picking up his first grand prix win since the 2024 United States Grand Prix.

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While a comeback for the Monegasque star would have been the dream scenario for Ferrari on any other weekend, his ability to beat Hamilton at home has presented the Scuderia with a tricky situation where the title fight is concerned.

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Hamilton's home loss to Leclerc makes things awkward for Ferrari

As the dust began to settle in deepest Northamptonshire, it appeared to be the perfect day for Ferrari - P1 and P3 to end a fine weekend.

But shortly after, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur's joy might just have given way to a little unease thanks to the situation that stellar Sunday has now created.

Did Leclerc just spoil Ferrari's 2026 F1 title hopes?

Let's face it, Leclerc winning at Silverstone was not the optimal title scenario for Ferrari and in doing so, he has moved much closer to Hamilton in standings.

After finishing P6 in the sprint and P1 in Sunday's main event, he has jumped up to fourth in the championship, just 39 points behind Hamilton.

This means it will now be significantly harder for Ferrari to focus on Hamilton in the title race as was suggested less than one month ago when his Barcelona GP victory placed him as Kimi Antonelli's main title contender.

However, after a disastrous race in England for the Italian teenager, his own team-mate George Russell is now just one grand prix win away from matching his current points tally, meaning the title is all to play for.

Where this is bad news for Ferrari though is that even though the Silver Arrows will now have to juggle having two drivers in contention for the championship, so will the Scuderia.

It's been proved time and time again in this sport that it is harder to win the championship if both of your drivers are in with a shot, and though Vasseur may not want to admit it, it would have been much easier for him to simply focus on one.

So what does this mean for Hamilton?

Well, the 41-year-old and his team-mate Leclerc have already shown this season that they are more than comfortable with Ferrari's approach of allowing them to go racing, but I for one feel like they are bound to make contact at some point in the campaign if that attitude continues.

Considering Leclerc just put the pressure on Hamilton and pretty much silenced the doubts about his ability this season with a single race win, it will now be increasingly difficult for Ferrari to pull rank with the Monegasque driver as well.

With both the drivers' and the constructors' titles still in play for Ferrari, having both Hamilton and Leclerc in contention is not ideal and could make for a very spicy, albeit unsuccessful title fight this year.

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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F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Charles Leclerc Silverstone British Grand Prix