Lewis Hamilton stated that he now feels “liberated” to do what he does best at Ferrari, after seeing changes he had been demanding from the team finally come to fruition. The British driver enters the Formula 1 summer break in second place in the championship, 59 points behind Kimi Antonelli.
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After a difficult 2025 where he did not get on with the car, the seven-time champion sees a turnaround. After 11 rounds, he has one win and four other podiums, as well as praising the changes made by Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur, including the adoption of Carbon Industrie brake discs, a solution he was more familiar with after using it during his 12 years at Mercedes.
Ferrari currently maintains a hybrid CI-Brembo brake system. The change helped Hamilton regain confidence in braking, one of the main points of dissatisfaction for the driver with the SF-25 in 2025, while the 2026 cars also proved more suited to his driving style.
“I think it has more to do with the fact that when you are in a situation where you know what is needed to improve, and you shout it from the top of a mountain, and it’s not necessarily done because it can’t be done immediately, or it takes months to develop, or it can’t happen the next year because of regulations, whatever it is, it’s like banging your head against a wall,” he said.
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“It’s hard, so it’s good to be in a period where, for example, last year one of the things I was saying was: ‘Where is our innovation?’. Ferrari should be the innovator; it should be the team that everyone else tries to copy. This year, you see us coming with innovative things that others have followed, and there is much more innovation to come, which is really exciting,” he continued.
“I think probably the fact that I’m starting to see some of these things happen, and Fred has been really great working with me and helping to make certain changes I wanted, simply frees you up to go out and do what you do best,” Hamilton concluded.
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