Lewis Hamilton believes he could have enjoyed driving a 2026 ground-effect Ferrari if F1’s technical regulations were not reset.
Moving to the Scuderia for 2025 for the final year of the ground effect regulations, Hamilton failed to score a podium for the first time in his career, and also suffered the ignominy of qualifying last on pure pace for the first time ever, doing so in Las Vegas.
He did win the Chinese GP Sprint race, but he failed to gel with the SF-25 machine, with ground effect cars vastly contrasting to Hamilton’s preferred driving style.
The 105-time grand prix winner prefers to brake hard and late for a corner and ‘V’ it, meaning he can accelerate hard after the late braking with an aggressive turn-in.
However, the ground effect cars rewarded drivers who ‘U’ corners, whereby they would brake early and roll through the corner, with the cars also prone to understeer and not have movement from the rear – something Hamilton likes to feel.
In contrast, the 2026-spec chassis features aerodynamic rake, akin to that of the 2017-2021 Mercedes cars in which Hamilton was so dominant, and are, on paper, more in line with his style.
However, Hamilton feels that if he had been involved in the design from scratch of a 2026 ground effect Ferrari, he could have delivered the results expected of him.
“Well, one, I’m in a happy place in my life, and two, I think the cars are more enjoyable to drive than the ground effect ones,” Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365, when asked if his happiness in 2026 was down to F1 not having ground effect machines anymore.
“However, if he had another year of the ground effects, it would have been a car that I would have been a part of developing.
I think I probably would have been happier in this year’s car than last year’s, but there is no more bouncing, so it is a combination of those things.”