Given his extensive background in Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton is ideally positioned to evaluate the latest car designs, and he has found his current driving experience quite pleasurable.
The seven-time F1 global titleholder is participating in the fifth significant regulatory revision of his professional journey and has frequently expressed his opinions on which car generation he enjoyed piloting the most, particularly after the demanding period of ground-effect vehicles from 2022 to 2025.
This might explain Hamilton’s optimistic outlook on the latest wave of F1 vehicles, which officially hit the circuit during the Barcelona shakedown this week. The British racer was present to try out Ferrari’s SF-26, following its initial run at Fiorano for a filming session subsequent to its unveiling last week.
Hamilton, who informally recorded the quickest lap time of 1m16.348s during the shakedown and helped Ferrari achieve a total of 444 laps at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya alongside his teammate Charles Leclerc, states that the contemporary F1 cars offer a more pleasant driving experience due to their greater leniency compared to the precarious stability characteristic of ground-effect models.
“This current generation of cars is genuinely a bit more entertaining to operate,” Hamilton conveyed to F1 following the Barcelona shakedown. “They tend to oversteer, are quick to react, and slide, but they are somewhat simpler to recover. I would certainly describe them as more pleasurable.”
“However, we certainly have areas for enhancement, as is true for everyone. Yet, I believe our post-session discussions have been excellent. Everyone is highly engaged. I genuinely perceive a stronger winning mindset within every individual on the team than ever before. So, that’s a favourable aspect.”
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Ferrari
Hamilton’s observations were delivered after an optimistic evaluation of Ferrari’s preliminary testing agenda, which surprisingly incorporated a decision to operate in rainy conditions on Tuesday. Red Bull was the sole competitor to accompany Ferrari on the circuit once precipitation began, but the British competitor was keen to test the SF-26 in the wet, recalling the “extremely challenging” learning experience of his initial wet-track outing in a Ferrari during the Australian Grand Prix of the previous year.
“This week has been genuinely pleasant, frankly. I believe a tremendous amount of effort was put in by me during the winter, and then also by the team to implement modifications leading up to this test [which is encouraging],” he elaborated.
“The beginning of the week was somewhat unconventional as we conducted testing on a fully wet day, a condition one wouldn’t typically select. However, last year, I arrived at the inaugural race, and the Sunday of the actual event was my very first time piloting the Ferrari, which proved to be an exceptionally difficult race. Therefore, gaining that experience and insight now was beneficial.”
“And then, simply observing the distance we managed to cover over the past few days, attributable to the exceptional diligence of everyone at the manufacturing facility, for which I am truly appreciative, as it provided consistent performance without issues…”
“Naturally, minor concerns always arise, yet we genuinely encountered no periods of inactivity. While I anticipate some might emerge in the coming weeks, these past two days have otherwise been exceptionally robust.”
“And regarding comprehension of the vehicle and its equilibrium, we possess significantly less downforce compared to preceding years.”
