Ferrari told what they must ‘unlearn’ for Lewis Hamilton to be successful during the 2026 F1 season

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton is beginning to pin his hopes on his move to the Scuderia on next year’s changing regulations.

After his first 10 Grand Prix weekends as a Ferrari driver, Lewis Hamilton is still waiting for his first podium.

His Sprint Race victory in China has proven to be a false dawn, and he could only follow up a top-three finish in Miami’s Sprint event with a P8 result during the Grand Prix.

Formula 1’s regulations change next season and it’s expected to be one of the biggest updates in the sport’s history.

Team principal Fred Vasseur is beginning to find himself under pressure at Ferrari after a slow start to 2025, but he will be hoping Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are in a stronger position next year.

Ferrari shifted some of their staff from their 2026 project onto this year’s car as a result of their underperformance, which might end up backfiring in the future.

However, Alex Brundle has been speaking about next year’s car and how it might impact Hamilton.

He’s far from confident that the changes coming are going to benefit the seven-time world champion in his quest to become Ferrari’s first drivers’ championship winner since Kimi Raikkonen.

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Alex Brundle doesn’t think Lewis Hamilton will thrive during F1’s 2026 regulation changes

Brundle was being interviewed on The Intercooler Podcast and asked about Hamilton’s chances next season.

He explained: “The 2026 regulations will be interesting for Lewis.

“I think this era of cars doesn’t suit him particularly well. By this era of cars, I mean the most recent regulation tweak where the suspension elements that they used to such great effect at Mercedes were reduced in their complexity.

“That’s where Mercedes were absolutely brilliant. So, the dominance at Mercedes was built around an incredibly clever rear suspension system that maximised rear downforce but also kept the platform incredibly stable.

“This meant that Lewis could go in very deep, brake very hard and do Lewis Hamilton things and he wouldn’t overheat the tyre and he wouldn’t overpush the entries.

“Now, the cars are more simple in their suspension, but the drivers still have to manage the platform of the ground effect, which has cost Lewis horribly because he overheats the tyre.

“My sense is that if you put the full field in cars of 2007/2008 spec, Lewis would still be there on pace.

“I just think the modern era of motorsport doesn’t suit him particularly well, and he’s so entrenched now in his mechanisms of driving, in his techniques of driving, that it’s very hard to teach him that.”

When asked if he sees anything in the new regulations for next season changing that for Hamilton, Brundle continued: “I don’t think so. I think you would need teams now to unlearn what they know, and you would need a change of tyre type and manufacturer that I don’t think we’ll get.

“It’s the sensitivity to the surface temperature of the tyre that is costing him, I believe, from looking into all the data.”

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Ferrari yet to shift full focus to their 2026 Formula 1 car despite Lewis Hamilton struggles

Hamilton is currently 25 points behind Leclerc after the first 10 race weekends of the year and 119 points behind championship leader Oscar Piastri.

The current era of the sport has been a struggle for Hamilton with Mercedes struggling to fully understand the ground effect cars and Ferrari taking a significant step backwards over the winter compared to their rivals.

Ferrari are set to decide after the Belgian Grand Prix whether to fully abandon this year’s car to concentrate on next season.

By then, it will be clear to both drivers whether they stand any chance of winning a race in 2025 or if next year needs to be the priority.

Ferrari will hope that Brundle is wrong and Hamilton responds differently to next year’s car when it finally arrives.

If he doesn’t, then next season could end up being the 40-year-old’s final year on the grid.