After a strong start to the 2026 F1 Australian GP, with promising Free Practice results, Lewis Hamilton couldn’t carry his momentum into qualifying, with power issues dropping him to P7.
The Ferrari driver’s qualifying session faded in Q2, despite having secured an initial fastest time on medium tyres before taking P3 in Q1. Although a Q2 drop in pace left Hamilton in P7.
Speaking after qualifying, Hamilton shared, “Yeah, I had a, generally a good, it’s been a great weekend up until Q2, basically, and car was feeling good, really happy with the car and everything, you know, engineering and everything. So, then we got to Q2 and we had some, we basically lost power, so we ended up having to come back in.
“On the medium tyre we were looking solid, and then when we ended up going back out, ended up behind more people, losing more temperature in tyres, and then it just, we just got out of sync and we just didn’t get a good, great lap time for that.”
The gap to Mercedes
When asked about Mercedes’ unstoppable pace in qualifying, with the team claiming a front-row lockout for Sunday’s race, Hamilton said:
“Yeah. I mean, I don’t understand it exactly,” as he finished 0.960 seconds behind pole sitter and former teammate George Russell. “Yeah, they didn’t show that they could turn it up in testing and now they’ve got this extra power from somewhere, and we need to understand what that is.”
Heading into 2026 and its new regulations, Mercedes has been in the spotlight as they are suspected of finding a loophole in the internal combustion engine’s compression ratio, which was reduced to 16:1.
With this in mind, Hamilton continued: “I hope it’s not this compression ratio thing, hopefully it’s just pure power and we’ve got to do a better job. But if it is a compression thing, then I’ll be disappointed that the FIA have allowed that to be the case, that it’s not to the book. And I’ll be pushing my team to do the same thing, so we can get more power from our engine.”
Hamilton added that if Mercedes’s strong 2026 Australian GP qualifying pace is linked to this, then with additional strong race pace, the team will be set with a clear championship lead in the upcoming races.
“If they have a few months of that, then the season’s done,” he explained. “I mean, not done, but seven races, a few months, you lose a lot of points with a second behind in quali, so… Yeah.”
Keeping up with rivals
Coming back to Ferrari’s 2026 Australian GP qualifying pace, Hamilton noted that the inconsistent engine power has forced him to lift and coast instead of going flat-out.
“Yeah. That’s how it feels in the car as well,” he jokingly replied when told that watching cars go through Turns 6 and 9 has been quite depressing. “No, it doesn’t feel depressing. The car’s really nice to drive, it’s just the power. The power’s good when you’ve got it, it’s just it doesn’t last, and it’s, you know, it doesn’t feel… You know, we start in the lap, half throttle coming through the last corner, and a quarter of the straight, and then you go to full throttle, and it’s just like, it’s completely against what Formula 1 is about. You’re flat out, full attack, and we’re lifting and coasting and stuff, you know, it’s… That element is not very good, and I don’t think the drivers particularly like it.”
Although an increase in super clipping may be a solution to this issue, Hamilton shared that he isn’t sure it would make a difference: “I’m not an engineer, so I have no clue.”
When asked whether he was surprised by the pace of McLaren and Red Bull today, he said: “I’m not… McLaren and Red Bull? No. I had no idea where we were going to be, so I’m not surprised.”
Hamilton on 2026 regulation limitations
The 2026 F1 Australian GP has so far given drivers and fans a first glimpse of the new regulations in full action, and with that, several drivers have already raised concerns.
When asked about Friday’s drivers’ briefing and the worries drivers have, Hamilton shared: “I didn’t really say much.
“I don’t know where I was at. I wasn’t really paying too much attention. Everyone’s yapping in that thing. It doesn’t make any difference what we’re saying in there, so… We’re just going to work together with the FIA to try and see if we can get everything to be a bit better.”
The seven-time World Champion also acknowledged the complexity of the new rules. Earlier, during the 2026 F1 Bahrain testing, Hamilton stated, “It’s like you need a degree to fully understand it all,” noting that fans will have a difficult time with them.”
Now, asked whether that’s still one of his concerns, he said, “I don’t know. Do you understand it?” before adding, “I’m still trying to fully understand it too, so…”
Other drivers have also publicly voiced their concerns, such as reigning World Champions Lando Norris, who explained that they have gone from the best cars to the worst cars. Hamilton laughed in response: “Well, I mean, he did [in 2025].”
Despite the debate, he emphasised that the main issue is the power units, “It’s just the power part. The car otherwise feels good. It’s just the power part and the SM [straight mode]. It’ll be interesting to see how that works tomorrow, but.. It’s more the power.”
With that, the FIA has also considered removing the straight-mode zones between Turns 8 and 9 at the Albert Park Circuit. However, Hamilton concluded by making it clear that the drivers are against the decision, as he said, “No, we all voted for it not to be.“
