Hamilton’s championship hopes all but extinguished after Spanish Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton’s championship aspirations for 2026 appear all but over after a brake failure forced him out of the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, leaving him a daunting 101 points adrift of runaway leader Kimi Antonelli, reports BritPanorama.
The seven-time world champion conceded there was “no stopping” Antonelli and Mercedes, with the young Italian having secured his eighth victory of the campaign. Hamilton’s team has struggled amid a notable decline from Ferrari, which has failed to reach the podium in their last four outings, accumulating a mere 73 points since the Hungarian Grand Prix — less than half of Mercedes’ tally over the same period.
Red Bull has also outperformed Ferrari in recent races. With no more than nine races remaining in the season, Hamilton has shifted his focus towards a challenge in 2027, pressing for significant changes within the team. According to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Hamilton has requested that Ferrari replace a number of key on-track personnel to facilitate this operational overhaul.
The Briton’s desire to reshape the team’s trackside operation follows a significant reorganisation of his engineering crew ahead of the current campaign, with long-serving race engineer Riccardo Adami transitioned into a position within Ferrari’s driver academy. While it remains unclear which individuals Hamilton considers inadequate, he has expressed frustration with the team’s strategic decisions and race-day execution on multiple occasions throughout the season.
These bold personnel moves would necessitate the backing of team principal Fred Vasseur, casting doubt on whether he will be receptive to Hamilton’s demands, especially as reports suggest that the relationship between the two is “no longer what it once was.” Tensions escalated publicly during the Italian Grand Prix when an aggressive wheel-to-wheel contest with teammate Charles Leclerc ended with Hamilton in the gravel.
Hamilton implicitly criticised Vasseur’s leadership following this incident, arguing that the team ought to have prioritised his campaign, given his superior position in the standings at that time. He asserted that Ferrari should have established clear rules of engagement between its drivers, citing the approach employed at Mercedes as a model — a suggestion Vasseur rejected in favour of equal treatment within the garage.
When pressed on whether the 101-point gap effectively ends Hamilton’s 2026 campaign, Vasseur deflected: “Two or three weeks ago, I told you that I will take race by race. I didn’t change it.” Discussions between driver and team principal are expected following the Madrid weekend, although Hamilton indicated uncertainty about the timeline due to commitments at Imola for Pirelli tyre testing for the 2027 season.
The scope of any restructuring Ferrari undertakes ahead of what could be their 19th consecutive season without a championship will serve as a telling measure of Hamilton’s influence within the Scuderia. The upcoming Baku round may provide further clarity on the situation.
