Lewis Hamilton already feels in a better place with Formula 1’s 2026 cars, which he says are more fun and enjoyable to drive.
The seven-time world champion faced some big challenges with the previous ground effect generation of machinery, which required a different driving style and a way of approaching braking and corner entries that did not play to his strengths.
But after an encouraging first pre-season test for Ferrari at Barcelona, in which he set the fastest time of the week on Friday, Hamilton has declared how he is already revelling in the characteristics of the new cars.
“The car generation is actually a little bit more fun to drive,” he said. “It's oversteery and snappy and sliding. It's a little bit easier to catch and I would definitely say more enjoyable.”
Hamilton’s positiveness about the car traits comes with the Briton also feeling that his Ferrari team is in a better place heading into 2026 than it was 12 months ago.
However, while the final lap time rankings were encouraging, he still accepts that his Maranello squad needs to unlock a lot more performance before it can start thinking it is in a place it can be happy with.
“We definitely have work to do to improve, of course, like everybody does,” he said. “But we've had great debriefs, everyone's really on it.
“I really feel the winning mentality in every single person in the team, more than ever. So it's a positive.”
Hamilton reckons that the competitive picture at the front of F1 is not clear right now, even though many believe that Mercedes holds the advantage.
For Hamilton, the key is not how quick the cars are right now but how quickly each team can develop them, with the performance likely to yo-yo a lot at the start of the season.
“We're under no illusions, we know we've got work to do,” he explained. “Mercedes have done great running as well. I think Red Bull and Haas did some great running as well, so we don't really know where we are.
“But I think it's a solid first week and we can really build from here. So there may be some big leaps that we need to take.
“Development's going to be key, really just making sure we leave no stone unturned and we're just really clear and concise with our communication and the decisions we take.
“It's going to take all of us to be at our best. And I'm just seeing that everyone's really coming with new energy this year, which is great.”
Hamilton’s optimism about the position that Ferrari finds itself in right now was echoed by team-mate Charles Leclerc, who ran on the final morning.
Speaking before the end of the day about his thoughts on how the week had gone, Leclerc said: “We did everything we wanted to do and we pushed a little bit more as well, which was nice to feel a little bit the limit of this car and to understand a little bit more of it as well.
“I'm happy because again we've gone through our programme and done everything we wanted.”
