Lewis Hamilton has admitted his 2026 Formula 1 title hopes are becoming harder to keep alive as he sits 59 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli. The Ferrari driver believes his team can no longer afford to treat both drivers completely equally if it wants to close the gap. Hamilton qualified fifth for the Italian Grand Prix, behind teammate Charles Leclerc, after Ferrari struggled to execute its final qualifying runs. With Antonelli starting at the back due to an engine penalty, Hamilton sees an opportunity, but knows Ferrari needs to make the most of it.
“We’re at a point in the year where 59 points is a huge deficit to recover from… we do have to work as a team.” When asked if Ferrari should throw its weight behind one driver, Hamilton simply replied, “Yeah.” He then explained his mindset, “There’s light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s getting dimmer the further we get through. Even though the team’s doing an amazing job in bringing upgrades and pushing us forward, I’m so proud of everyone working really hard.”
“I say it all the time, but it’s because I really am. I couldn’t do what I do without seeing the great work of everybody. I always want to make sure that I acknowledge them and recognise them for that because I want them to continue to push, and I want them to stay hungry and keep that passion and fire. But also, at the track, we need to come correct and act accordingly to make sure we get the result we need.”
Lewis Hamilton reveals Ferrari qualifying mess at Monza
Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari’s title hopes are getting harder to keep alive after a difficult qualifying session at Monza. Hamilton finished fifth in qualifying, behind teammate Charles Leclerc, after Ferrari’s strategy around the tow left both drivers struggling. Hamilton was almost knocked out in Q2, making it through by just 0.001 seconds, before another delay in Q3 left him running around 25 seconds behind the pack. With Kimi Antonelli 59 points ahead in the championship, Hamilton feels Ferrari needs to work together if it wants to stay in the fight.
Hamilton explained exactly where things went wrong, “[In Q2] we were supposed to do a push, cool, cool, push. Because everyone was waiting and Charles didn’t want to go out first, we had to wait, wait, wait, and then only got one push. And that made it pretty challenging for us. And then my Q3, I didn’t have any wheels on the car, basically and everyone left whilst my engine was running.” He added, “I went out like 25 seconds behind everyone. And that just put me out of rhythm. Because when you’re following another car, or when you’re in that tow, you arrive much faster, so the braking zones are different. And when you’re on your own, you lose the tow, there’s a lot of time lost.”
