Ferrari already knew about Lewis Hamilton's race ending brake problem before the Spanish GP started

Lewis Hamilton and Fred Vasseur embrace — Photo: © IMAGO

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Ferrari already knew about Lewis Hamilton's race ending brake problem before the Spanish GP started

Hamilton's title hopes suffered a fatal blow in Madrid

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Friday 18 September 2026 08:15

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Lewis Hamilton's Spanish Grand Prix was doomed from the start with Ferrari being made aware of his brake problem before the race.

At Sunday's race, Hamilton retired for the first time this season, ending a finishing streak going back to last year's Brazilian Grand Prix.

To many it appeared Hamilton's problems started on the opening laps when he was reporting of brake issues, that only got worse to the point he dropped down the field on the sixth lap before retiring the car.

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Hamilton knew before race started

The seven-time world champion though reported the problem before the race, according to Motorsport's Italian site, while in communication with the Ferrari pitwall via his onboard radio.

Ferrari worked quickly to try and fix the issue, going as far as trying to get a Maranello based garage at their HQ to try and precisely diagnose the issue, and offer a fix through the computer within Hamilton's SF-26 steering wheel. This proved to be unsuccessful.

It was only once the problem was identified that Hamilton was told to retire the car. Reports suggest that the problem had been a component of the hydraulic system that regulates the brake-by-wire system.

Can Lewis Hamilton still win the F1 title?

Ferrari have displayed some of the best reliability on the grid this season, but Hamilton's retirement proved to be a hammer blow to his F1 title chances.

Hamilton hasn't scored a single podium since the British Grand Prix back in July, which was a fourth top three finish in five races.

It left him only 32 points behind F1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli, but in the five races since including the Madring retirement, where Antonelli triumphed for the eighth time this season, Hamilton now sits 101 points behind with nine races still forecast.

In fact, Hamilton has already effectively conceded his hopes of landing a record eighth world championship, telling Sky Sports at the Spanish Grand Prix after retiring: "Him [Kimi] and Mercedes this year, I think they've they've done a phenomenal job, and and they deserve it."