Hamilton Targets ‘Magical Place’ as Ferrari Builds on Strong 2026 Season Start]

Hamilton Targets ‘Magical Place’ as Ferrari Builds on Strong 2026 Season Start]

Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari have the potential to reach a “magical place” if they continue building on their improvement, insisting their current position in 2026 is “not it” for the team’s ambitions.

Hamilton arrives at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix looking to extend his strong form after finishing second to Mercedes’ title-leader Kimi Antonelli in each of the last two races.

Following a difficult 2025 season, Ferrari are second in the Constructors’ Championship behind unbeaten Mercedes, with podium finishes in all but one of the six grands prix so far.

And Hamilton, who has appeared a reinvigorated force this season, said: “My approach is full attack, full commitment, trying to continuously galvanise the team and push in the direction.”

“I think we have a North Star. We know where we need to go.

“Getting there takes a lot of work, and it’s not as easy as just fixing something for next week. And just staying all aligned and continuing to push.

“If we’re all rowing in the same direction at the same strength, I think we can potentially get to a magical place.”

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      <span class="ui-media-caption__caption-text" data-role="caption-text" data-testid="sitewide-video-caption">Lewis Hamilton inspects Kimi Antonelli's W17 Mercedes car after the Italian won the Monaco GP</span>
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Despite Ferrari’s strong start to the season, Mercedes remains the dominant force with six wins from six perfect pole positions.

“It’s going to be tough to beat Mercedes and we’re just working on trying to focus on ourselves and improve each weekend,” said Hamilton.

“But this is just the beginning really for us as a team. Obviously from a difficult year [in 2025] seeing the changes into this season it’s just really positive and I think we’re moving in the right direction. But this is not it.

“We’ve got more to come; we’ve got more improvements to make.

“I hope we can be there for a scenario like that but we exist to win and I think we don’t exist to win by default. It’s to win by pure performance and commitment and that’s what we are working towards.”

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      <span class="ui-media-caption__caption-text" data-role="caption-text" data-testid="sitewide-video-caption">After finishing on the podium alongside Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar, Lewis Hamilton joked that he was older than the two combined!</span>
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‘Never say never’ – do Ferrari retain a world title hope?

Hamilton has moved ahead of former Mercedes team-mate George Russell into second place in the Drivers’ Championship after Russell failed to score points in the last two races.

The seven-time champion currently trails leader Antonelli by 66 points, though Hamilton has downplayed Ferrari’s chances of quickly closing their engine performance deficit despite being awarded two development upgrades for this year under the sport’s ADUO rules.

“In terms of the title, we can still outdo people in terms of how we develop the car. Our car is very good. The downforce package that we have is really good.

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      <span class="ui-media-caption__caption-text" data-role="caption-text" data-testid="sitewide-video-caption">Speaking on Paddock Uncut, Craig Slater, Ted Kravitz and Harry Benjamin give their reaction to the news of the FIA admitting the penalties in Monaco are likely to be inaccurate, after Alpine's appeal was accepted.</span>
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“We’re going to have to double up, make sure that we’re always one step ahead of it all in terms of advancing that, so we can go through corners quicker and catch up the deficit we may lose down the straights, improve efficiency, so we maybe can improve on drag, for example, to try and close that gap in speed.

“There’s lots of different things happening in all these different tracks. Never say never. I will keep pushing and give it absolutely everything.”

Schedule: Barcelona-Catalunya GP

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      <span class="ui-media-caption__caption-text" data-role="caption-text" data-testid="sitewide-video-caption">Ahead of this weekend's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, we take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments from previous races at the circuit.</span>
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Friday June 12
8.50am: F3 Practice
10am: F2 Practice
12pm: Barcelona-Catalunya GP Practice One (session starts at 12.30pm)
1.55pm: F3 Qualifying
2.50pm: F2 Qualifying
3.35pm: Barcelona-Catalunya GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)*
5.30pm: The F1 Show
6.30pm: Team Bosses’ Press Conference

Saturday June 13
9am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Barcelona-Catalunya GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint*
2.15pm: Barcelona-Catalunya GP Qualifying build-up*
3pm: BARCELONA-CATALUNYA GP QUALIFYING*
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday June 14
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: Porsche Supercup
10.20am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Barcelona-Catalunya GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: THE BARCELONA-CATALUNIA GRAND PRIX*
4pm: Barcelona-Catalunya GP reaction: Checkered Flag
5pm: Ted’s Notebook

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

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