Marc Priestley tells Lewis Hamilton fans why F1’s 2026 ruleset should give them ‘fresh hope’ after ground-effect era ‘struggles’

Lewis Hamilton hasn’t been a contender for the Formula 1 drivers’ championship since the infamous 2021 title fight with Max Verstappen.

Mercedes and Red Bull went head-to-head that year and Verstappen benefited from one of F1’s most controversial incidents to deny Lewis Hamilton his eighth drivers’ championship.

This turned out to be a point of divergence with Red Bull going from strength to strength and building a car that helped Verstappen dominate the next era of Formula 1.

Hamilton and Mercedes had to watch as the Dutchman went on an unprecedented winning streak, and despite returning to the top step of the podium at last year’s British Grand Prix, the 40-year-old decided a change of scenery was needed.

Ferrari have welcomed Hamilton to the team after 17 seasons of competing against him, but the campaign hasn’t started as well as either of them would have liked.

A change in Hamilton’s outlook has been noticed in recent weeks, but a Sprint Race win and third place is all he has to show for his first six race weekends with the Scuderia.

Hamilton is still adapting to Ferrari, using different brakes and the team’s power unit, having only ever used Mercedes engines during his career.

However, former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley believes the ground-effect era has simply never suited Hamilton, but has seen signs that next year’s regulations will be good news for the seven-time world champion.

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Lewis Hamilton fans told why they should have ‘fresh hope’ for 2026 F1 season

Priestley was speaking on the Pitlane Life Lessons Podcast about Hamilton’s difficult past few years on the grid and explained, “For those worrying about the likes of Lewis Hamilton, struggling for form in a Ferrari this year because he’s jumped from Mercedes with this fresh hope.

“A seven-time world champion coming into the Prancing Horse team at Ferrari with this wonderful vision of bringing them back to the top and bringing that world title that they’ve been missing for a long time and the eighth one that he wants to try and acquire.

“What changed was the regulations changed, we moved to developing downforce from surfaces over the top of the car with wings to really highlighting the under-car performance, and that’s where the struggles for Lewis Hamilton, particularly in comparison to teammates at Mercedes. That’s where those struggles came in.

“If the problem Lewis had was the modern era of Formula 1 cars, this ground-effect type era that we’re currently in right now, if that was the problem for Lewis, moving to Ferrari in the same era, with the same ground-effect cars, albeit with slight nuances, probably wasn’t going to be the thing that solved the problems for him.

“But, it may be, to give you hope Lewis Hamilton fans, it may be that the thing that solves those problems is moving to a new set of regulations in 2026 where we have less reliance on the Venturi tunnels and the underside of the car.

“We go back to a much more over-the-top type downforce-producing car, something a little bit different again.”

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Marc Priestley warns Lewis Hamilton not to fall into the same trap as Sergio Perez

There is a generational divide being created on the grid, with only Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg over the age of 31.

All three drivers have shown more than enough ability over the ground-effect era, with Alonso in particular, thriving during the 2023 season when he first joined Aston Martin.

However, plenty of drivers who had been on the grid for years lost their seats over the past three seasons.

Priestley has warned Hamilton he’s struggling with an issue Sergio Perez suffered from before Red Bull cancelled his contract.

The gap between himself and Charles Leclerc is much smaller than Perez and Verstappen when the Mexican was released.

But the changing aerodynamic systems on next year’s cars might be the change Hamilton needs.