The seven-time world champion reflected on his Ferrari journey after scoring his maiden victory with the team at the Spanish Grand Prix.
It marked Hamilton’s first win for Ferrari in his 31st start with the Scuderia, the 106th victory of his Formula 1 career and made him the 41st different driver to win for Ferrari since the team entered F1 in 1950.
Hamilton also became the first British driver to win for Ferrari since Eddie Irvine at the 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix, with the breakthrough coming almost 30 years to the day since Michael Schumacher claimed his first Ferrari victory at the 1996 Spanish Grand Prix.
The result ended Mercedes’ unbeaten start to 2026 and moved Hamilton to within 41 points of championship leader Kimi Antonelli as he continues his push for a record eighth drivers’ title.
“First I have to start and say a huge ‘grazie’ to everyone here, my team here at Ferrari, everyone back at the factory, Fred [Vasseur] for believing in me and bringing me to this team,” Hamilton said after the race.
“I started out a dream last year which seemed almost impossible during my time last year, but we never gave up hope and the team just continued to lift me up.
Buy tickets
“We made so many changes and we made so many improvements, and on top of that I’ve got the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for. Thank you, thank you to everybody.”
View this post on Instagram
The victory completed a major turnaround for Hamilton, who endured a difficult first season with Ferrari in 2025 after his high-profile move from Mercedes.
He finished sixth in last year’s standings, 86 points behind teammate Charles Leclerc, and started the campaign with a crash at Barcelona in pre-season testing.
“At the beginning of last year I got injured here, actually, and carried that for months,” said Hamilton, who stopped short of detailing the issue.
“A thing that I just know is to never doubt yourself, never second-guess yourself.
“You’ve got to continue to believe in yourself at the core, and those are the things that I’ve managed to re-implement into my mentality.
“I’ve rebuilt my mind to this point to get myself back to where I was, and it’s a great feeling to stand on that podium.
“I was saying earlier on, I’m probably going to sleep in this red top tonight. It’s a good feeling to have the horse on there at the top.”
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur praised Hamilton’s resilience after finally converting the team’s progress into victory.
“It’s a lot about resilience because I think he had to face tough moments,” Vasseur said.
“His last season at Mercedes was not an easy one, his first season with us was not easy. He had tough moments.
“But he was able to keep the same energy into the project to be able to push at the factory.”
Vasseur also believed Hamilton had the pace to win even without the Virtual Safety Car that helped Ferrari pull off its three-stop strategy.
“We would have won the race, perhaps with a bit less,” he said.
“But we were also in a good situation with a fresh set of tyres at this stage. It was positive for us, but I don’t want to do the calculation what would have been in the race with this or this.
“But I think we were already in a very good situation.”
Hamilton’s triumph was also hailed by Ferrari executive chairman John Elkann.
“Well done Lewis, on your first great victory with Ferrari: an emotional moment and a very important result, which belongs to the entire team and to all our fans,” Elkann said.
“I would like to thank everyone for the determination, sacrifice and collective effort that they demonstrate every day with passion and Ferrari spirit, both at the track and in Maranello.”
Hamilton takes first Ferrari win in Barcelona, Antonelli suffers DNF
Discussion about this post