Lewis Hamilton is having enjoyable once more. In Australia there have been indicators his pleasure – and tempo – is again

MELBOURNE, Australia — For so lengthy, the sight of Lewis Hamilton main a race was Formula 1’s default setting.

No driver has led extra laps than Hamilton. On leaving Mercedes on the finish of 2024, his tally stood at 5,486 — over 300 greater than fellow seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.

But by way of his depressing first season with Ferrari, one the 41-year-old known as a “rollercoaster” and a “nightmare” because the crew struggled for efficiency, Hamilton led simply two grand prix laps: one in Australia, and one in Austria.

After only one race of 2026, Hamilton has already surpassed that tally. He headed the sector for 3 laps in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix en path to fourth place, ending simply 0.6 seconds behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

“It was a really, really fun race,” Hamilton instructed Sky Sports. “It felt good for me. A couple more laps and I would have had Charles, so I had great pace. Lots and lots of positives to take.”

Such positivity was uncommon to listen to from Hamilton by way of 2025. After the early excessive of his dash race win on the second spherical in China, solely to then be disqualified from the grand prix at some point later on account of a legality problem on his automotive, Hamilton struggled for a lot of the yr.

For the primary time in his F1 profession, which began in 2007, he didn’t rating a podium end all season. Although Ferrari lacked efficiency with its automotive, Hamilton additionally didn’t match Leclerc for outright tempo or outcomes.

This season was all the time going to supply Hamilton the prospect to reset. The new fashion of vehicles — lighter and extra nimble — promised to play extra to Hamilton’s strengths. He by no means gelled with the heavy vehicles used from 2022-25, successful simply twice in that interval. In the earlier eight seasons from 2014-21, masking six of Hamilton’s titles, he received no less than eight races each season.

But Hamilton additionally felt a shift away from the monitor. On Thursday in Melbourne, he opened up in a information convention about taking a while to rediscover himself over the winter, admitting he had “kind of lost sight for a second of who I was.”

The promise of a brand new season and new alternative was all the time going to breed positivity. To make it sustainable, Ferrari needed to ship Hamilton a aggressive automotive. The first indicators from Australia have been good.

It wasn’t solely all the way down to the trio of laps that Hamilton spent main after he cycled by way of to the entrance following pit stops for Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell, the eventual race winner. It was the arrogance that he carried all through the race.

Hamilton was helped by a rocket begin — Ferrari’s not-so-secret weapon towards rivals this season — that took him from seventh to 3rd on the opening lap. He might have run even greater with out going a fraction huge on the first nook, carrying a bit an excessive amount of velocity that price him some floor. As Leclerc and Russell exchanged strikes for the lead by way of the opening phases, Hamilton lurked simply behind, ready for any alternative which will come up.

The solely actual second of frustration seen from the surface was when Hamilton questioned Ferrari’s resolution to not pit underneath the digital security automotive. The crew believed that may have made no distinction to the ultimate outcome given Mercedes’ tempo benefit, however the name within the second was about making an attempt to make sure the tire life was not marginal by the tip of the race.

It was a far cry from Hamilton’s Ferrari debut 12 months earlier, the place he limped residence in tenth after a frenetic, rain-hit race. He appeared robust all through. His exchanges with race engineer Carlo Santi, who’s within the position for now, have been clear and concise, with Hamilton solely as soon as telling Santi to “leave me to it.”

It already sounded calmer than most of the exchanges between Hamilton and former race engineer Riccardo Adami over the radio at instances final yr. Adami has been moved to a distinct position throughout the crew this season.

And the outright tempo Hamilton confirmed was additionally encouraging. He misplaced his rhythm in qualifying on account of an influence problem in Q2 that meant he might solely muster seventh on the grid, albeit simply 0.151 seconds off Leclerc’s lap. To then tail Leclerc residence throughout the road, a uncommon sight for a lot of 2025, was one other nice indication. As Hamilton famous, with a couple of extra laps, he might properly have overtaken his teammate.

The distress of final yr appeared to gnaw away at Hamilton’s enjoyment of the game. By the tip of the season in Abu Dhabi, the place he didn’t qualify inside the highest 10 for the fourth race in a row, he was in want of a break. Now, he is likely one of the few drivers to essentially speak up the brand new era of vehicles which have confronted widespread criticism from his friends.

“I personally loved it,” Hamilton instructed reporters after the race. “I thought the race was really fun. The car was really, really fun to drive.”

Hamilton’s pleasure appeared to circulate again in Australia. Even within the wake of such a commanding win for Mercedes, he felt potential from Ferrari’s automotive, believing its major deficit was all the way down to engine efficiency. “We’ve got work to do,” Hamilton instructed Sky. “But we’re right in the fight.”

Fred Vasseur, Ferrari’s crew principal whose relationship with Hamilton stretches again greater than 20 years, was all the time cautious to not solid too robust a judgement by way of the Briton’s struggles final season. Even after such a very good show, Vasseur remained calm when he was requested by a reporter if Hamilton was again.

“I’m very pleased with the performance of Lewis over the weekend,” Vasseur mentioned. “But I think we have to stop to say one weekend he’s (up) here, one weekend he’s not there. It’s a sport where sometimes you are doing a good session, sometimes you are not.”

The aim for Hamilton is to keep up this degree of confidence and efficiency heading to China this weekend.

Australia already appeared like a extra full, complete efficiency from Hamilton in comparison with the overwhelming majority of final yr. The velocity was there and the hole to Leclerc had shrunk. With Ferrari seemingly the second-fastest crew behind Mercedes proper now, the prospect of Hamilton ending his anomalous podium drought is promising.

But most of all, Australia confirmed sparkles of the enjoyment that fueled Hamilton for a lot of his F1 success up to now. Going one place additional up the order to step on the rostrum quickly can be an enormous second inside his Ferrari story.