Lewis Hamilton Reveals Ferrari Verdict For 2026 After Disastrous Weekend

It was not a good Qatar Grand Prix for Ferrari star Lewis Hamilton.

An early sprint qualifying elimination led to the 40-year-old picking up zero points in the sprint race, and he followed that up by being knocked out in Q1 again, this time in Saturday's qualifying, before finishing 12th in Sunday's race — yet again scoring no points.

This means that Hamilton sits sixth in the Drivers' Championship on 152 points, over 250 behind current championship leader Lando Norris in his McLaren.

Ferrari stopped development of its 2025 car, the SF-25, in April, thanks to McLaren's out-of-the-gates dominance.

Lewis Hamilton believes there is 'no reason' Ferrari cannot make significant strides next season

Lewis Hamilton is a cultural icon outside of F1 as well - his Instagram boasts over 41 million followers. | Credit Antoine Truchet - Scuderia Ferrari HP

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race at Lusail had concluded, Hamilton was downtrodden regarding his current situation.

If Hamilton cannot win the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, this will be only the third time out of 19 seasons that he has not stood at the top step of the podium, and he has no top-three finishes in 2025 either.

"It definitely has been the most challenging year both in and out of the car. I've got so many notes in terms of things we need to improve on."
Hamilton on how his 2025 has gone

The recent loss of form in both Ferrari cars has been significantly impacted by Ferrari's decision to shift focus to 2026 early in the year, with both drivers' results affected by the lack of updates.

The strongest stretch for Ferrari was the European leg of the year — Imola to Monza — where Leclerc got four out of his seven 2025 podiums, and Hamilton was fighting in the top five instead of at the back end of the top ten.

Charles Leclerc was able to capture his joint best finish of the year, second, at his home race - the Monaco Grand Prix. | Scuderia Ferrari

Hamilton emphasized the need for improvement come 2026, with the seven-time champ also expressing feelings of positivity towards Ferrari doing the right thing.

"We [need to] keep hold of the things that are good and change the things that are not... there's literally no reason why we couldn't fix [these issues] if we just put those [changes] into action. I'm hopeful for us making progress."
Hamilton on Ferrari's upcoming season

Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur admitted fault over driver morale after it was confirmed that the car would have no more development, saying that the situation was 'tough to manage psychologically'.

"It was a call, and I'm still confident with the call that we made."
Vasseur on halting development

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