Silverstone will be the first time seven-time champion Hamilton has driven in Ferrari red in front of his home crowd at the British Grand Prix this weekend, which is the 12th race of the 24-round season.
After a successful 2024 season, Ferrari had high preseason expectations, but their campaign has so far been largely disappointing, with their hopes of competing for the world championship against McLaren failing to materialize.
After 12 years at Mercedes, Hamilton is still getting used to the team car and working procedures; the British driver has yet to place on the Grand Prix podium. Charles Leclerc, a teammate, has already finished in the top three four times.
Hamilton was asked on Thursday if he was satisfied with the team’s preparation of areas outside of the 2026 car itself, such as communication, upgrades, and workflows, and if they already had margin in those for the rest of this year. This is because Ferrari is hoping to finally return to title-contending ways with six months to go before the start of one of the biggest rules overhauls in Formula One history.
However, his response was, “No. It’s still being worked on.
“I’m attempting to make and implement some changes. Although the process appears to be moving slowly, we are making progress.
“You want everything to happen now, as soon as possible.
“This is a year where I am literally trying to build that foundation with the team. We are getting to know each other.
“We both work differently and so there are compromises and there are changes we are making to try and prepare ourselves the best.”
Hamilton used last week’s Austrian Grand Prix as an example of how he and Ferrari were still getting used to one another when he spoke to the written media at Silverstone ahead of the race.
Hamilton asked for the team’s pit wall to be kept out longer before his second and final pit stops because he was several seconds behind teammate Charles Leclerc in third and fourth place, respectively, and Mercedes’ George Russell was not posing any real threat.
The teammates eventually crossed the finish line nine seconds apart, but he was held to their preexisting strategy and stopped one lap behind Leclerc.
Hamilton responded, “Even just probably an hour ago, I brought it up,” when asked if they had discussed it since last Sunday. After the race, I brought it up, and we had some time to consider it.
“The team’s best perspective, in my opinion, was that they merely wanted to guarantee third and fourth place, which is perfectly acceptable. “Look,” I said, “I’m racing for every little bit that we can gain, not to start fourth and finish fourth.”
“In a scenario like that, for example, they had us on exactly the same strategy. I think we went both medium-hard-medium, I said I would have done medium-medium-hard so at least I was offset at the end. I’d never want to do the same thing as my team-mate, ever.
“Then that last stint we were not under pressure from the cars behind and they said ‘yeah, but you would have got overtaken by Charles towards the end. I said ‘well, there could have been a Safety Car. At that point there was no risk in taking a gamble and I said ‘I never want to get to a point where I’m ignoring you, so what we’re doing is we are working on our communication.
“We are still getting to know each other and how we like to operate, and that’s understood.”
A year after his record-breaking ninth Silverstone victory, which was his first win anywhere in Formula One for two and a half years, Hamilton returns to the circuit. It was an especially emotional victory for the Mercedes driver at the time.
The 40-year-old is attempting to break yet another record in his illustrious career—13 races without a podium finish.
Despite finishing on the last 12 Silverstone podiums, Hamilton stated: “I’ve never paid too much attention to Ferrari’s performance here before, but I’m hoping we’ll be in a similar position to Austria.
“McLaren will disappear into the distance if the day is dry. However, you never know what the wind and rain will bring.
“The crowd will make a big difference, so I’m hoping they help us get a bit closer.”
And whether he can dream of a stunning 10th victory, he said: “I really don’t know and I would never want to jinx it. In my heart I’m hoping for a strong weekend.
“I’ve not had a podium yet so this would be a special place to have that. I’m hoping the amazing support we have here can make a difference.”