Lewis Hamilton braced for ‘huge challenge’ of new season regulation change
The 41-year-old will hope that a complete overhaul of the sport’s technical rulebook can provide him with a chance to revive his fortunes.
Lewis Hamilton said he is braced for the biggest regulation change of his career ahead of a make-or-break season with Ferrari.
The 41-year-old will enter his second campaign driving for the Italian giants following an underwhelming year where he failed to land a single podium for the first time in his career.
However, Hamilton will hope that a complete overhaul of the sport’s technical rulebook can provide him with a chance to revive his fortunes and fight for a record eighth world championship.
Ferrari unveiled the first images of their new car on Friday – before Hamilton completed a number of laps at the team’s private Fiorano test track – prior to next week’s behind-closed-doors test at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya.
The chassis, engine, fuel and tyres are all new for the 11 teams this year, and Hamilton said: “The 2026 season represents a huge challenge for everyone, probably the biggest regulation change I have experienced in my career.
“When a new era begins everything revolves around development, growth as a team, and moving forward in the same direction.
“As a driver, being involved from the very start in the development of such a different car has been a particularly fascinating challenge, working closely with the engineers to help define a clear direction.
“It will be an extremely important year from a technical perspective, with the driver playing a central role in energy management, understanding the new systems and contributing to the car’s development. It is a challenge we face together as a team.”
In his debut season in red, Hamilton was out-qualified by Charles Leclerc 19 times in 24 appearances. Hamilton ended the year 86 points behind his team-mate in the championship.
He will have a new race engineer for the forthcoming season – which begins in Australia on March 8 – after he parted company with Riccardo Adami.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur accepts bringing everything together – in the car as well as off the track – will be a “challenge” and represents a “full reset” for the drivers, but is one they will all tackle full throttle together.
“Performance of every single area is key but, at the end of the day, the biggest challenge will include the integration of all the systems together – including the drivers, honestly, it will be a full reset for them on their approach,” Vasseur said at a virtual press conference on Friday afternoon.
“It means that they will have to change completely the way that they have to approach the weekend, develop during the weekend, the way of even driving will be probably a bit different.
“It means that this also for them will be a challenge and part of our job will be to give them the good tools to be at their maximum.”
Vasseur added: “It is true that we are all starting from scratch, we are all discovering the challenges.
“I think this is a good feeling, I would say, because that is our job, our DNA to challenge this kind of situation, and drivers are part of the equation. It is a very interesting challenge for us and for the others.”
