Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton can dream of an eighth F1 championship: ‘If he smells blood, he goes’

In January 2025, Lewis Hamilton paid his first visit to Ferrari’s Formula 1 factory in Maranello, Italy, following his sensational move away from Mercedes after 12 years.

The seven-time world champion took in every moment, posing for photos outside team founder Enzo Ferrari’s house and looking at Ferrari’s most iconic cars up close. He visited every department, taking time to meet as many of his new colleagues as possible.

Hamilton came away from his first trip to Maranello with two things: A light cold, owing to the number of hands he shook during that visit, and, more significantly, total conviction Ferrari had everything required for him to win a record eighth world championship. It was a view Hamilton shared both publicly and privately.

Yet the prospect of surpassing Michael Schumacher and becoming the outright record holder for the most drivers’ titles seemed to grow bleak through much of his difficult, podium-less first year with Ferrari.

Turning 41 ahead of the 2026 season, and with Mercedes emerging with the dominant new car through preseason testing, time seemed to be running out for Hamilton to make that eighth title dream a reality.

It’s already on Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff’s mind. He admitted to feeling uneasy about the prospect of going up against Hamilton for the championship, having seen first-hand through their many past success together just what the Briton can do.

“Yes, absolutely,” was  Wolff’s response to reporters when asked if Hamilton could be a title threat this year. “We’re so early in the season. It’s 41 points (difference at the top, with Hamilton currently trailing leader Kimi Antonelli). A DNF robs you of 25 points, and it’s wide open.”

Ferrari debuted a bumper set of car upgrades in Barcelona. (Mark Thompson / Getty Images)

“If he smells blood, he goes,” Wolff added. “I’ve seen it (in) many years where suddenly the Lewis Hamilton train started to go, and then it’s very difficult to stop it.”

Wolff was speaking after seeing Antonelli, the 19-year-old who had won five of the opening six races, retire with a handful of laps remaining in Spain due to a suspected engine issue when he was running second. Although Antonelli wasn’t going to beat Hamilton on the day, the failure to finish meant his 66-point championship lead going into the Barcelona weekend took a significant hit.

Even before his win, Hamilton had already disrupted what was anticipated to be an all-Mercedes battle for this year’s world championship between Antonelli and George Russell, the preseason favorite.

Russell’s engine failure in Canada and zero-points return in Monaco after a penalty following a team mistake allowed Hamilton, who’d finished second in both races to Antonelli, to move up to second in the standings, two points clear of his former Mercedes teammate. After Barcelona the gap between them is nine.

A bumper set of car upgrades for Ferrari that debuted in Barcelona, including a new front wing and nose, offered a decent boost in performance that allowed Hamilton to challenge Russell for pole. He qualified second, just 0.064 seconds off Russell’s fastest time.

At a time when the car designs are so new, having been overhauled for 2026, upgraded parts can be particularly powerful. Mercedes’ last significant upgrade package came in Canada.

“Whoever is going to be bringing those upgrades earliest is going to be taking a step forward,” said Russell. “We saw it with McLaren in Miami, having a really strong weekend, and then ourselves and Ferrari have taken a step forward thereafter.”

A further boost to Ferrari should come in the form of an upgraded engine through the FIA’s ‘Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities’ (ADUO) system. The ADUO process allows manufacturers with a notable power deficit to bring extra upgrades to their engines.

According to a document sent to manufacturers by the FIA ahead of the Monaco GP that has been obtained by The Athletic, Ferrari will get two upgrades both this year and next year due to its engine performance deficit — judged to be more than four percent to the benchmark, Red Bull — while Mercedes will only get one.

Hamilton has made frequent reference to Ferrari’s power deficit to Mercedes this year, and did so again after the win.

“There’s going to be tracks with long straights where that makes it even harder,” Hamilton said. “But we’ve got a great car at the core, and if we keep adding performance and we can go through the corners quicker, maybe we can narrow that deficit down a little bit until we improve or close the gap on power.”

Hamilton’s performance in Barcelona proved the strength of the Ferrari SF-26 car. Reigning world champion Lando Norris said on Sky Sports after the race that rivals were fortunate Ferrari didn’t have a better engine as otherwise it would be “dominating.” Norris said the red car was “the class of the field in terms of cornering performance.”

Once the ADUO upgrade arrives, Hamilton’s title fortunes will surely only receive a further boost.

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli leads Lewis Hamilton by 41 points in the drivers’ championship. (Pauline Ballet/Getty Images)

Antonelli’s lead remains healthy. But one thing Wolff acknowledged Mercedes must consider is how to approach races now there is another driver in the fight. Simply letting Antonelli and Russell duke it out on the track, as has been the stance so far this year, can’t be allowed to run the risk of holding each other up or compromising the overall team result.

“We will discuss internally with them, with the two drivers, how we want to handle a situation where we are at risk of holding each other up,” said Wolff. “It’s not going to be a problem. It’s just maybe we need to recalibrate.”

When The Athletic asked Hamilton if his dream of the title was alive and well following his Barcelona victory, he took a moment to gather his thoughts before admitting he’d “not been thinking about an eighth” so far this year given Mercedes’ performance.

He has always said it would take time for things to click with Ferrari. Even after this win, he didn’t want to think too far ahead, saying it was “about taking it one race at a time.”

But he was eager to get back to the Ferrari factory and look at the planned upgrades; their potential, impact, and whether there was a need to adjust to give him even more confidence in the car. If Barcelona is anything to go by, Ferrari would do well to heed Hamilton’s advice and feedback.

“We just keep pushing and enjoying it,” Hamilton added. “We have to just have fun with it as well.”

Hamilton may not have wanted to get too carried away with thoughts of a first championship bid since 2021, when he was controversially denied an eighth title at the final race in Abu Dhabi following then F1 race director Michael Masi’s infamous fumbling of the rulebook.

But the fashion of his first win in nearly two years could be the spark that ignites such thinking.