Lewis Hamilton F1 title dream OVER with Spanish Grand Prix retirement at Madring

Lewis Hamilton's F1 title hopes suffered a knockout blow after his first retirement of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Ferrari star's hopes of landing a record eighth world championship already looked bleak heading into the first ever race at the Madring circuit, sitting 76 points behind series leader Kimi Antonelli with 10 races to go.

Having qualified fourth on the grid ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc, the 41-year-old was hoping to get a good start to get ahead of Antonelli who qualified in second behind McLaren's polesitter Lando Norris and in front of Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

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Hamilton's pain in Spain

However, within just a few laps of the start, Hamilton started to complain he had no brakes in a situation that became worse.

On lap six he was passed by Verstappen and Leclerc, before dropping to last. His Ferrari team called him into the pits to retire the car on lap seven.

Hamilton had finished every race in the points during the 2026 season but this marks his first grand prix DNF since last November's Brazilian Grand Prix.

It was at the only other race in Spain this season at Barcelona that Hamilton won his first and currently only race for Ferrari, but his return to the country has been a forgettable one this weekend.

Hamilton crashed in the final practice session before qualifying, ruling him out of the final 30 minutes of running and hampering his preparation for the pole position battle.

HIs race day experience now ends his title hopes, with his focus for the rest of the campaign on being to better his team-mate Leclerc and gain more influence in the team heading into the 2027 season.

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