Hamilton explains why this year's Ferrari suits him better as he assesses prospects for Japan

Lewis Hamilton has shared an insight into why he feels that Ferrari’s 2026 car suits him much better than its predecessor, with the seven-time World Champion admitting that he is “really grateful” to the team for taking his feedback onboard.

After joining the squad from Mercedes last year, Hamilton faced a challenging maiden season as a Scuderia driver and ended 2025 without a podium, marking the first campaign of his career in which he has failed to stand on the rostrum.

The opening two rounds of 2026, however, seem to have gone much more smoothly for the Briton and the team, with Hamilton returning to the top-three in China while team mate Charles Leclerc claimed a podium finish one week earlier in Australia.

Having spoken positively about his experiences of driving the car so far, Hamilton explained ahead of Round 3 on the calendar in Japan exactly why the SF-26 is a good fit for him.

“When I joined Ferrari last year, I had nothing to do with the build of that car,” said Hamilton. “The car was already in the process of being made when I joined, and it was an evolution of the previous year's car.

“I arrived and was learning about a car that had been built not really for me and generally didn't suit my driving style. There were elements I was asking for but couldn't put in the season because it's too expensive, like suspension, to build with the budget cap.

“It was a really hard season – we didn't develop the car through the year because we decided to focus on this year's car. I got to work on the simulator and there were things that I was asking for, saying we have to have this on the car next year.

“We come to this year's car, completely new era, new start for everyone, but I've got a couple of things on there that I asked for which I'm really grateful that they listened and did.

“Charles and I tested it and we both loved it. The car is lighter and nimble, less downforce but it's a lot more like a go-kart, throwing it around. It's quite fun.”

Reflecting further on the progress made by Ferrari amid the introduction of new technical regulations in 2026, Hamilton added: “There's lots of different views on this year's generation of car, but for me it's exciting that it's a new era for the sport.

“I think every time it has been a new era it's always been exciting to see where people come out, and I'm proud of the team. The work we've done over the last year to get us to this point and be closer to the front and in the battle I think is really a showing of the amazing work the team has done.”

Looking ahead to the upcoming weekend at the Suzuka Circuit, Hamilton was quizzed on whether – off the back of his rostrum result in Shanghai – he can potentially dream of achieving his 106th career victory.

“It's a bit too close for that probably – it's only race three and we've only just got a podium after some time trying to chase that down, so I think one step at a time,” he responded. “We're just going to keep trying to build on what we've had so far performance-wise.

“Obviously Mercedes are still ahead, so we're under no illusion that they are clearly ahead. They've qualified seven-tenths, six-tenths, three-tenths I think ahead, so we've still got a gap to try and close and we've not yet made a step to do that, but every weekend is a new opportunity so we'll give it our best shot.”