Hamilton suffered the injury during a private pre-season test at Barcelona in January last year, when he crashed the SF-23 only days into his life as a Ferrari driver.
The seven-time world champion had previously hinted after his breakthrough Barcelona victory that he carried an injury through the early stages of last season, but stopped short of explaining the extent of the issue.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Hamilton detailed how the crash left him with a disc issue in his neck that affected him for several months.
“I hit the wall very hard last year in testing,” Hamilton said.
“Knocked out one of the discs in my neck, which was into the nerve. So, I couldn’t do a lot for like nine weeks.”
The crash came at the beginning of what became the most difficult season of Hamilton’s F1 career.
Click here now.
His high-profile switch from Mercedes to Ferrari failed to deliver immediate success, with Hamilton finishing sixth in the 2025 drivers’ standings, 86 points behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
It was also the first season of Hamilton’s career in which he failed to score a podium finish.
View this post on Instagram
Hamilton revealed the physical toll of that crash, which at the time was not believed to have caused any significant injury.
“I couldn’t do a lot for like nine weeks. I was having chiropractors every day, physically every day I couldn’t sleep,” Hamilton said.
“I had painkillers, I had to get an injection, I did everything I could to try to fix it. So that’s what I was basically trying to live with. It’s not easy in the position that you’re sitting in.”
The comments add fresh context to Hamilton’s difficult first year with Ferrari in which he struggled to fully gel with the team and car after ending his long association with Mercedes.
They also underline the scale of his turnaround in 2026, with Hamilton now Ferrari’s lead title hope after claiming his first victory for the team at the Spanish Grand Prix.
That win came at the same circuit where he suffered the testing crash little more than a year earlier, and marked his first grand prix triumph for Ferrari at the 31st attempt.
The win solidified Hamilton’s spot of second in the drivers’ championship, 41 points behind Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli and nine points clear of George Russell.
Ferrari’s recent form has seen it emerge as a more consistent threat to Mercedes, with recent upgrades helping Hamilton build momentum after successive second-place finishes and victory in Barcelona.
The team is expected to introduce a new engine update at the Red Bull Ring this weekend as it continues its push to close the gap to Mercedes.
Hamilton, however, insisted he is not allowing himself to get carried away by talk of an eighth world championship.
“I’m just really not thinking that I’m competing for a championship,” he said.
“I’m thinking about arriving and I want to win this weekend – that’s my goal.
“That’s what I’ve been working for all week, last week and this week.
“It’s head back down with the sacrifices you need to make to make sure that you arrive 100% so you can deliver for these people.”
Asked whether he believes Ferrari can mount a genuine title challenge, Hamilton said the team now has a clearer target than it did during his first season in red.
“I think the opportunity is there, but it’s one thing being there and it’s another thing galvanising the troops and developing,” Hamilton said.
“You can hit plateaus in terms of development, so all we can do is take it one day at a time, and all we can do is really continue to bring everything.”
Despite his renewed form, Hamilton said Ferrari still faces a significant task to overhaul Mercedes across the remainder of the season.
“Still, Mercedes are the team to beat, they’ve won everything else and they’ve been just incredible this year – a great car, an amazing team, a world championship team,” he said.
“So, we have a real battle on our hands, and it’s going to take everyone for the rest of the year to even come close to competing with them, but I don’t think it’s impossible.”
2026 F1 Austrian Grand Prix – Schedule, how to watch, TV times & more
Discussion about this post