Lewis Hamilton is urging Ferrari to improve the performance of their power unit for the 2027 Formula 1 season as the 41-year-old eyes a shot at a record eighth world championship next year.
A first Ferrari grand prix win for Hamilton in Barcelona in June gave hope he could launch a 2026 title challenge, but a crushing run after the summer break saw his deficit to Mercedes’ championship leader Kimi Antonelli grow beyond 100 points.
Hamilton ended a run of six races without a podium by finishing third at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia on Sunday, with only a poor choice of starting tire costing him the chance to use his blistering pace to battle Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for victory.
After this encouraging display, he explained why he has confidence in his squad going into next year.
Hamilton said Sky Sports F1: “I think fundamentally we have a great car, and that’s down to a great group of people back at the factory who are really intelligent and have made the right decisions.
“As I’ve said before, we’ve been innovative this year. We’ve had things in the car that everyone else has often followed.
“It’s just that we know we’re down on power, and that’s something we live with. We’ve got to make it next year. We live with that deficit for the rest of this year.”
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Highlights of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia at the Sepang International Circuit
With seven rounds of the 2026 season remaining, starting with a first Sprint event in Singapore this weekend, Hamilton hopes he will have the pace to race for more wins.
“But still, the car is getting better, and I think we’ve got races ahead that hopefully we’ll still be able to get maybe a little bit closer,” he added.
“We just keep trying. And I’m still enjoying the race. I still feel fit, I still feel focused.”
Hamilton’s hopeful ‘negative baby talk’ goes away
The build-up to the Bahrain Grand Prix was dominated by speculation over the future of Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur after former Red Bull boss Christian Horner had showed interest in position.
Ferrari publicly backed Vasseur ahead of the event, while Hamilton criticized a “negative narrative” around the team.
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Ahead of Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, Lewis Hamilton shares his faith in Fred Vasseur despite ‘negative’ outside sources
Asked if he thought a strong overall result, which saw team-mate Charles Leclerc finish one place behind him in fourth, would reduce the negativity, Hamilton added: “Hopefully there won’t be too much negative chatter after Malaysia.
“We still got good points with third and fourth.”
Vasseur maintained a philosophical outlook as he said it was easy to react to a strong performance but more important to ensure the team remains “strong” when things don’t go to plan.
“You know the weekends are a lot easier to manage when you’re putting in a strong performance,” Vasseur said.
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The chaos of the chaotic formation halts the start of the race at the Bahrain GP in Malaysia
“The most important thing is to be solid when it’s not like that. Sometimes it’s not going to be like that.
“It will happen to everyone. It was a difficult weekend for McLaren. They came with a lot of expectations. It was difficult for them.
“But it is also in this situation that you have to react as a team and stay together.
“It’s always easy to face a good weekend.”
Formula 1 heads straight to Singapore for the final Sprint weekend of the season with on-track action starting this Friday, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
