Lewis Hamilton is worried that Ferrari will only regress in the Formula 1 pecking order once McLaren has fully understood the Mercedes engine in the MCL40.
Ferrari has been the closest challenger to the factory Mercedes outfit in the 2026 season, sitting second in the championship and 31 points behind the dominant Silver Arrows after two rounds.
It’s been a more troubled start to McLaren’s title defence, meanwhile, as it is third on only 18 points with three DNS’ across Melbourne and Shanghai with various mechanical issues hitting.
But the shining light is McLaren being powered by Mercedes, whose engine is clearly the strongest at the start of these new regulations. Although the Woking outfit is yet to maximise the power unit, it is gradually getting to grips with it as its much-improved showing in Japan demonstrated.
Oscar Piastri topped FP2 and continued that form into Saturday, qualifying third with team-mate Lando Norris fifth, while Charles Leclerc and Hamilton respectively took fourth and sixth for Ferrari.
Hamilton therefore cut a frustrated figure in the media pen afterwards, claiming “we’re just miles away” having also qualified seven tenths off polesitter Kimi Antonelli in yet another Mercedes 1-2.
“They clearly have a good car, and as they start extracting more of the power of that Mercedes engine, then we’re going to fall behind,” said the seven-time world champion of McLaren.
“We’ve got a real job on our hands to try to somehow close the gap. The engine is a part of it, but I think the chassis clearly is, at least this weekend, not on par with Mercedes. They’re quicker through the corners as well.”
What makes it worse is that Hamilton revealed Ferrari is unsure about why its power unit is lacking compared to Mercedes, even if it’s still been a positive start to 2026 for the Scuderia.
“Just on performance, we’re hugely down to the Mercedes engine,” said Hamilton, who took his first Ferrari podium last time out in China. “What that is, we don’t know. Whether it’s just that they have a bigger turbo or more power or something else. We’ll find out.
“We have to try and figure it out. We’ve got to just work harder to try and close the gap.”
This steep development curve backs up the pre-season belief that the rate at which teams fit upgrades is what will decide who enjoys success in this new rules era.
“I kind of expected them to make this kind of progress,” said Leclerc, also of McLaren. “They are a very, very, very strong team. We’ve seen it last year. They had an incredible car.
“They’ve had a bit of a rough start to the season, but it’s not such a surprise to see them back to where they should be and I’m sure that there’s a lot of progress also in the next few races.
“So on our side, we need to stay on it and keep pushing because as I said at the beginning of the year, it’s going to be a development championship where development is going to play a much bigger role than it has in the past few years. We need to be on top of that.”
