Lewis Hamilton Says Fight Is On After Ferrari Upgrade at Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton said “the fight is on” after qualifying second at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, just 0.064 seconds behind George Russell, as Ferrari brought a significant aerodynamic upgrade to the Spanish race.

“Seconda giornata dei test Barcellona 2026, in corso fino a venerdì a porte chiuse sul Circuit de Catalunya”

AutoRacer.it

Hamilton’s best qualifying for Ferrari came after a difficult run through practice, with the BBC noting he had handed his car to junior driver Dino Beganovic for the first session and then fought back in FP2 and FP3.

AutoRacer.it

The BBC also reported that Hamilton took the unusual step of leaving the paddock between final practice and qualifying, saying “I was thinking all weekend, 'Why am I half a second off?'”.

In the same weekend, the AutoRacer.it test coverage described Ferrari’s reliability in the Barcellona 2026 shakedown, saying the team completed 111 giri despite maltempo and a bandiera rossa in the tardo pomeriggio.

Hamilton’s qualifying result was framed as a turnaround from practice pace, with the BBC quoting him that the result proved “what we're doing is working, we're improving as a team”.

Hamilton attributed his qualifying jump to small set-up adjustments, telling the BBC that “the engineers did a great job with the small adjustments on the set-up.”

He also described a confidence reset after leaving the track between P3 and qualifying, saying “I went back to my motorhome and I was just on the engineer call, just on my phone.”

BBC

The PlanetF1 report added that Hamilton had struggled with rear behavior in Friday practice, quoting him: “Something’s wrong with the rear of the car. The car was dragging down the straight.”

PlanetF1 said Ferrari arrived with eight new parts to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, including a new front wing and nose, floor and diffuser, and sidepods, while Hamilton said he had “zero feel of it, so I have no idea where…”.

Even with the upgrade, PlanetF1 reported Hamilton’s uncertainty heading into Sunday, quoting him: “I don’t really know what I’m going to do with the car. Hopefully tomorrow we have a better day.”

The BBC said prospects for the race were uncertain because tyre degradation was even higher than expected, with Hamilton warning “we had twice the amount of deg.”

“Hamilton analyzed the complex debut of the Ferrari SF-26 in the preseason tests”

El Litoral

Hamilton also told the BBC that the weekend’s pace meant “it’s going to be at least a two (pit-stop race),” while adding that Mercedes still had “extra in the pocket” and that “we've got some work ahead of us.”

The BBC’s qualifying recap placed Hamilton’s result in a broader championship context, noting he was 66 points down on Kimi Antonelli in the Drivers’ Championship and that Ferrari held second in the Constructors’ standings on 165 points behind Mercedes on 244.

AutoRacer.it’s shakedown notes for Barcellona 2026 added that the Circuit de Catalunya session was affected by rain and a bandiera rossa after Hadjar’s incident, with Hamilton’s late shakedown run described as “ancora qualche giro” on a bagnata pista.

With Ferrari’s upgrade package now producing a sub-tenth qualifying gap, the BBC captured Hamilton’s immediate stakes for Sunday, quoting him: “It's the closest I've been to the front in quali, right? So, I'll give it a go.”