Lewis Hamilton Backs Ferrari to Stay in the Fight

• Lewis Hamilton finished fourth at the Australian Grand Prix as Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc took third, with Mercedes completing a dominant one-two finish led by race winner George Russell.
• Ferrari missed a window during a virtual safety car period, staying out when Mercedes pitted both cars, and Hamilton said the team needs to review whether a different call could have changed the result.
• Hamilton was one of the few drivers to speak positively about F1’s new 2026 regulations, calling the race “really fun to drive” and praising the on-track battles the new rules produced.

Lewis Hamilton left the Australian Grand Prix with a fourth-place finish, a strategy question to answer, and a firm belief that Ferrari can run Mercedes to the wire in 2026.

Mercedes dominated the season opener at Albert Park, locking out the front row of the grid on Saturday before George Russell and Kimi Antonelli completed a one-two on Sunday. Hamilton and Leclerc gave them early trouble, both Ferrari drivers making lightning starts that put Leclerc into the lead and Hamilton into third either side of Russell in the opening stint. The positions shifted as the race developed, and Ferrari emerged with a third and fourth rather than a result that reflected their early pace.

“The team did a great job overall,” Hamilton said.

“There are lots of positives to take. A couple more laps and I would have had Charles, so I know we can be fighting for podiums. We’re not as fast as Mercedes but we’re right in the fight. We’ve got a lot of work to do to catch them but it’s not impossible.”

The result could have looked different had Ferrari moved at the right moment. A virtual safety car period opened a low-cost pit window, and both Russell and Antonelli took it. Ferrari left both their cars on track, a decision that handed Mercedes a positional edge they never surrendered. Strategy calls have been a recurring problem at Ferrari, and Hamilton acknowledged the team needs to examine what was left on the table.

“I feel great,” he said of his mood. “We got a third and fourth and ultimately Mercedes were quicker than us.

“We need to see if stopping would have been better. I definitely thought we should have come in or, at least one of us, to cover the Mercedes. We will look to see what we can do better.”

Hamilton was also one of the few drivers willing to speak positively about F1’s sweeping 2026 rule changes. The new regulations push the power unit toward a near-equal split between internal combustion and electrical output, placing heavy demands on battery management and energy conservation that drivers across the grid have already voiced frustration with after just one race.

Hamilton, who was openly critical of the ground effect aerodynamic rules that shaped Formula 1 from 2022 to 2025, described the new car in almost entirely positive terms.

“I personally loved it. I thought the race was really fun to drive. I thought the car was really, really fun to drive.

“I watched the cars ahead, there was a good back and forth. So, yeah. So far, so good.”

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Written by

Jarrod Partridge

Jarrod Partridge is the Co-Founder of F1 Chronicle and an FIA accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following Formula 1. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered F1 races at circuits around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every race report, driver profile, and technical analysis he writes.

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