Lewis Hamilton continues his brilliant run of form in Qualifying for the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP, finishing the session in P2 only 0.064 seconds off from pole sitter George Russell.
After handing over the wheel of the SF-26 to Ferrari Academy driver Dino Beganovic in FP1, Hamilton was back in FP2, where he got to test out the team’s new upgrade package for the first time. While Hamilton appeared to struggle in both FP2 and FP3, he found his footing in Qualifying, where he easily advanced to Q3. His first run in Q3 was disrupted by teammate Charles Leclerc’s crash, but Hamilton managed to put everything together on his final run to secure a front-row start at the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP.
In the FIA press conference following Qualifying for the F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP, Hamilton recalled the difficulties he faced in finding “pace” in the car after missing out on FP1. The Ferrari driver made a “huge leap” in Qualifying, knowing where he could find the time, and praised Ferrari for the “hard work” they did in delivering upgrades for this weekend in a continued effort to close the gap.
Great turnaround for Hamilton in Qualifying after struggling for pace in practice
“Yeah, for sure. I mean, it’s been a very tricky weekend for me, personally. Really struggled to get on pace after missing P1.
“I’ve never been so down before in a sense of the gap between Charles and I and to everybody else. It was half a second to eight-tenths. I think it was one second in one session to the front row, so I needed to make a huge leap going into qualifying, and I knew where the time was. It was just having the confidence in the car, in the rear of the car. And I think we did a really good job, making adjustments.
“But this is really down to everyone back at the factory. They’ve been working so hard. We kind of know where our North Star is, and for them to bring this upgrade here this weekend, I can’t thank them enough for the hard work that they’ve put in to bring it, because it’s a competition between all the teams to who can bring the most, and it helps us close the gap.
“The car felt great in qualifying. Obviously, they’re still so quick, the Mercedes, so still have work to do to fully close the gap or at least get ahead, but I’m really hoping that tomorrow we can. It would be nice for us to, for once, be able to hold on to them, but we’ll see.”
Hamilton on Leclerc’s incident in Qualifying
In Q3, Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc lost the rear of his Ferrari and subsequently crashed the car. Asked whether it was tricky to push the upgraded SF-26 to it’s limits, Hamilton felt that it’s not a Ferrari issue, explaining that the new generation of cars are “tricky in general.” On Leclerc’s incident, Hamilton shared that he believed his teammate had carried too much speed, which resulted in the crash in Qualifying.
“I think just these cars in general, it is tricky. I mean, for me, the car felt really good. We basically had this exact same set-up now in quali, and I know Charles has been quick all weekend. I think, on the day, too, I think I was braking very late into Turn 4, which had been visible, and I think Charles probably tried to carry a lot of speed into that corner, and unfortunately, it didn’t work out for him. But, you know, he’s still going to be really quick in the race.”
The search for “perfect balance”
Commenting on the SF-26, Hamilton says the goal is to find the “perfect balance” bit by bit, but this is complicated by the tyres, which fall off if pushed too hard, which in turn affects achievable lap time. Despite the difficulties, Hamilton is “really happy” that the team was able to bring improvements that helped with the balance.
“I think from the car standpoint, I think we’re just constantly trying to strike that perfect balance, which is inevitably almost impossible to ever find, but you’re trying to get closer and closer. And these tyres are very peaky. There’s a small window that the fronts and the rears work, and you have a push in Turns 1, 2, and 3, and then you’re struggling through 4 and the rest of the lap.
“So it’s the finest line that I can remember ever being to get every ounce of the car’s performance out on track, but I’ve been really happy with the progress that we made in terms of the balance. Of course, we can always continue to improve.”
Hamilton expects a “challenging” 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP
After a superb performance in Qualifying for the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP, where Hamilton managed to split the Mercedes duo, the Ferrari driver believes that tomorrow’s race will provide a challenge. Whether Hamilton will be able to keep up with the Mercedes drivers remains to be seen.
“I definitely will be challenging without my team-mate within the group, but it’s been done before. So, I think really it’s a long way down to Turn 1. For one, I’m on the dirty side, which is not the greatest.
“But yes, these guys I think were really quick on the long runs, as they have been all year. So I have no idea whether I’ll be able to keep up. We’ll find out tomorrow.”
