"The Goal Is To Win…” Lewis Hamilton sets his sights on the 2026 F1 World Championship with Ferrari ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.
“The Goal Is To Win…” — Lewis Hamilton Aims For 8th F1 World Championship | IMAGE SOURCE - INSTAGRAM/lewishamilton
Lewis Hamilton is aiming high as he starts his second season with Ferrari. After a tough first year in 2025, where he didn’t make it to the podium for the first time in his F1 career, Hamilton is heading into 2026 with a much brighter outlook. The Australian Grand Prix this weekend will be the first chance to see if that optimism pays off.
Not since 2021 has Hamilton been in a position to challenge for the championship, and the 41-year-old says he’s “much happier” now after spending a full year with Ferrari, getting to know the team and understanding how they operate.
Lewis Hamilton reflected on last season’s challenges: "We got great mileage done in winter testing - an amazing amount of work has been done from the team back at the factory, but also delivering on those tests. We’ve learned a lot from last year. We're leaving behind the bad and moving forwards with the good, and we're just sharp. We are prepared, and we know what we need to do. We also know there's massive challenges for all of us with the new rules and regulations."
Ferrari impressed during Bahrain testing. Charles Leclerc set the fastest time, while both Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc showed strong pace on longer runs. This gave fans a better idea of how the top teams could line up this season.
The paddock sees Ferrari and Mercedes as favorites for the first race in Melbourne, though Hamilton suggested that Red Bull might not have revealed their full speed yet.
Lewis Hamilton admitted that last year was a personal challenge. “I lost sight of who I was” during his first year at Ferrari, but he promised, “You won’t see that person again.”
The seven-time world champion, now starting a record 20th consecutive F1 season, described last year as his worst-ever campaign. Yet after a strong pre-season testing period, Hamilton is confident and upbeat ahead of the season opener at Albert Park.
“It’s massively different to the first year and a much nicer feeling. Having spent a year at the team… I think we’re in a good place now together. I feel very gelled,” he said.
Hamilton has also been working hard off the track. He explained:
“The break was really positive. It was my surroundings, it was the people that I was with. It’s not my first rodeo, so it’s understanding how to flip things. It’s not that easy to do each time, but I always talk about cultivating a positive mental attitude and that’s what I focus on in my winter. A lot of it came from training. I was training hard from Christmas Day. Also, knowing that I believe in myself, that I’ve put more work in than anyone around me, and I believe in myself. Rediscovering myself was a big part of it as well. As I said in one of my [Instagram] posts, I kind of lost sight for a second of who I was, and that person’s gone, so you won’t see that person again.”
When asked about his goals for 2026, Hamilton didn’t hesitate:
“The goal is to win: that’s what we’re working towards. To maximise on every opportunity, to be fighting in the top group, hopefully in the first [few] races. Mercedes look particularly quick, and I’m not really sure whether we’ve seen the full, unleashed Red Bull yet, so it’s really exciting. But whatever the case, I feel like I’ve got a great group of people behind me who are head down, focused on bringing performance and really maximising every weekend.”
While Hamilton’s former Mercedes teammate, George Russell, is the bookies' favorite, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, and McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are all expected to fight at the front. Testing showed the top four teams are very close, making the season opener in Melbourne a thrilling first look at who has the edge in 2026.
