Lewis Hamilton addresses 2026 retirement question after nightmare year with Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton has shared his stance on potentially retiring from F1 after the 2025 season. The seven-time F1 champion has had more lows with Ferrari this season than he or anyone anticipated before the partnership began.

Things looked good for Hamilton at the beginning of the season after he won the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Race. Unfortunately, that would turn out to be the only time he stood on a podium this season. The Briton has had trouble adapting to Ferrari's machinery, which, unfortunately for him, has tanked in performance with each passing weekend.

Lewis Hamilton has sent documented suggestions back to the Ferrari HQ in Maranello for improved operational efficiency, but finds his undesirable record of most races with the Scuderia without a podium finish increasing. At the recently concluded Qatar GP weekend, he got eliminated in Q1 in both Sprint qualifying and the feature qualifying, and couldn't secure a single point in the races.

In a post-race interview, Hamilton was asked if he intended to continue racing with Ferrari in 2026 or think about the situation in the offseason.

"No, No, no," he replied. "I wanna... I’m excited for a new generation of car because this has been the worst-designed one that I remember, probably at least in my phase. Maybe the 2009 generation was pretty bad also, but at least we had better tires and better grip."

"But this one’s just with the bouncing and stiffness, all these mix of things, it’s just not been an enjoyable period, and we had the worst racing. None of us can overtake. What’s the point of having a race if no one can overtake?"

Lewis Hamilton's reply focused more on the drawbacks of the current ground-effect cars than on his dismal season with Ferrari. However, it seemed appropriate, considering that he has struggled with this generation of cars since it was introduced in 2022, even with Mercedes. At Ferrari, however, his problems were exacerbated.

Keeping his personal struggles aside, the ground-effect cars have failed to live up to the expectations that they would improve overtaking. Following cars has become difficult, with the dirty air proving detrimental to the follower's tires.

Lewis Hamilton explains why Ferrari struggled against all teams during the Qatar GP weekend

Alex Albon leads Lewis Hamilton at the 2025 F1 Qatar Grand Prix - Source: Getty

After a dismal Qatar Grand Prix weekend for Lewis Hamilton, which concluded with him finishing outside the points in P12 in the feature race, the seven-time F1 champion highlighted how Ferrari's early-season decision to stop development on the 2025 car and focus on 2026 backfired.

Even Charles Leclerc, who has endured extended periods of not-good-enough with the Scuderia, had trouble being optimistic for the race. Moreover, even Alpine's Pierre Gasly was surprised by Ferrari's lack of performance.

Expressing his emotions about this trying phase in a post-race interview, Hamilton said:

"I will just say it was a very tough weekend. I think this track really highlights it, probably more than ever. The fact that we haven’t developed the car since April or whatever, you know, I think we feel it most at this track, at this high-speed circuit, where others have continued to develop. We’re struggling to hold on to pretty much all the cars."

Lewis Hamilton has one final opportunity left this season at the Abu Dhabi GP to secure a podium with Ferrari. That would be a good consolation prize to end this 'nightmare' season, as he described it after the Brazilian GP.