Marc Surer: Why Lewis Hamilton’s second Ferrari year will be better

– Lewis Hamilton’s first season at Ferrari was a disappointment overall. Although the Formula 1 record world champion won the sprint in China, he never stood on the podium at a Grand Prix throughout the entire year. Meanwhile, teammate Charles Leclerc made it to the podium seven times.

Read more “Enormous added value”: Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies praises Max Verstappen

“Lewis simply never found the confidence,” says expert Marc Surer in an exclusive video interview on the Formel1.de YouTube channel. The now 41-year-old never really warmed up to the cars of the ground-effect era, he suspects.

The fact that a completely new set of regulations will take effect in 2026, where entirely different things matter than before, could therefore be an advantage for Hamilton according to Surer. “He has already proven at Mercedes that he can manage an engine well,” says the former Formula 1 driver.

“He was actually always stronger in the race than he was in qualifying. And that will remain the case. I believe Leclerc is an artist who simply gets the maximum out of qualifying. That’s why he has so many pole positions,” Surer explains.

In fact, the Monegasque has already taken 27 poles in his Formula 1 career – but only eight Grand Prix victories. However, Surer says this is not because Leclerc is so weak in the race, but because the Ferrari “has not really been a winning car in recent years.”

Read more Ferrari Team Principal: Why 2026 cars are “significantly better than feared”

Rather, the Monegasque simply regularly gets everything out of the car in qualifying, and therefore Leclerc will “still be the faster one in qualifying,” Surer suspects. “But in the race, Lewis Hamilton will be able to use his experience and cleverness,” he emphasizes.

“He has done that very well in the past, managing power and so on. That’s why I do believe he will look better than last year,” Surer predicts. In 2025, Hamilton finished the season with 156:242 World Championship points, significantly behind his teammate.

In 2026, things could be much closer internally between him and Leclerc. And if Ferrari then has a car that can fight for the World Championship title, the Scuderia would have to decide early in the championship “who they are backing,” Surer emphasizes.

“Because I believe that with this competition, you can’t let both of them drive freely for too long,” says the Swiss.

Read more Haas Team Principal: Changes at the start are okay, but more would be “not fair”