Ferrari F1 driver Lewis Hamilton opened up about his superb opening lap, the dramatic drop-off his intermediate tyres suffered, the timing of his first pit stop, his battles with teammate Charles Leclerc, his spin when the late rain came, whether their focus has now shifted to the upcoming campaign now following his ninth-place finish at the 2026 São Paulo GP on Sunday.
How the race unfolded for Hamilton
Having fitted a complete new power unit and incurred a 75-place grid penalty, Hamilton lined up in P20 for the 71-lap race at Interlagos.
The Grand Prix got underway on a damp track, with the entire field on intermediate tyres. The Brit made up eleven places on the opening lap, moving up to ninth. However, his tyres started to overheat, and he dropped to P14 by Lap 10.
While he was keen to box a couple of laps earlier, Ferrari finally called Hamilton into the pits on Lap 15 and swapped his intermediates for softs. He rejoined the track in P20.
Once his soft tyres were warm enough, Hamilton once again climbed up the order and rose to eleventh. However, he couldn’t find a way past Arvid Lindblad for ten laps.
The 41-year-old finally moved into the points on Lap 26 with a pass on Alex Albon, who the Racing Bulls driver had managed to overtake a lap earlier. He then pulled ahead of Lindblad on Lap 29 to find himself in P9.
Hamilton made a second stop on Lap 39 for another set of softs. As the race progressed, he climbed back up to P8.
When the rain made an appearance again towards the end, the 7-time World Champion saw an opportunity to overtake Liam Lawson and stayed out for one more lap compared to his teammate, Leclerc. As a result, he spun on the wet track coming up near the pits and lost time before making his stop on Lap 63.
Crossing the finish line in ninth, Hamilton now finds himself fourth in the Drivers’ standings, 1 point adrift of George Russell in third.
Hamilton talks about his São Paulo GP opening lap and his intermediate tyres falling off steeply afterwards
Speaking in the print media pen after scoring two points in the rain-affected F1 race, Lewis Hamilton touched on his fantastic opening lap at the 2026 São Paulo GP. He also commented on how his rear tyres lost grip within a few laps, thus halting his charge through the field.
“Yeah, I had a great start. Really, really great start.
“It’s just unfortunate; we were struggling with our tyres today, getting them in the window. And then after those first few laps, the tyres just started to fall on the rear and the car moved to massive, massive oversteer.
“So, unfortunately, we weren’t able to continue to progress from there.”
Asked why his intermediate tyres fell off so quickly, Hamilton reckoned that they were no longer in the right working window due to overheating. Pointing out how Ferrari had grappled with tyre temperature issues throughout the race weekend, he stated that the SF-26 started generating better lap times once they switched to slicks.
“I think it’s the temperature thing. That’s the thing, when the temperature is high, the pressure increases.
“But we had struggled all weekend in general, in pace. And, yeah, just a bit unfortunate. Once we got onto the slick tyre, we were looking a little bit better.”
When pressed on whether the performance of the intermediate compound was up to the mark, the 105-time polesitter responded, “Well, we used the inters today, and they were just overheating for me.”
Hamilton on the timing of his switch to slicks and battles with Leclerc at the 2026 São Paulo GP
Furthermore, Lewis Hamilton addressed his radio exchanges with race engineer Carlo Santi about the timing of his first pit stop at the São Paulo GP and explained why he had wanted to box for slicks a lap earlier.
“Well, I was struggling with the tyres, and the track looked like it was just in the crossover phase.
“And I was like, if we can get on these early and get the temperature up, we can gain some ground here.
“And so, eventually, we did get on them, and it may have been a lap later than I’d wanted, but overall, it was okay. But then after that, it was really hard to overtake because there was only one lap [before the others pitted].”
As to his battles with teammate Leclerc at Interlagos and what they were like coming off the back of their Mexico City clash and week-long media controversy, Hamilton said, “Well, I don’t really remember, but I think there was a moment where we were close with one another, and yeah, it was good.”
Hamilton explains why he didn’t pit on the same lap as Leclerc and his subsequent spin
As the rain started to fall again with ten laps to go in Sunday’s São Paulo GP, Lewis Hamilton didn’t pit on the same tour as his Ferrari teammate. Soon after, he spun on the climb up the hill from Turn 1 but recovered back to the pit lane.
The 106-time F1 race winner touched on how disappointing his Lap 63 spin was and further elaborated on why he had opted to stay out and attempt an overtake on Lawson instead.
While he suggested that the lack of effective communication resulted in his predicament, Hamilton, nonetheless, apologised to the team for his mistake and asserted that the lack of pace had held them back during the race weekend.
“Yeah, it was so gutting, because honestly, in those greasy conditions, I was quicker than Lawson. I was catching him like a second a lap.
“And they said, like the previous lap, it’s going to stay consistent like this. So, I was like, ‘yeah, I can stay out on this’. And just before the pit lane entry, they said, ‘box, box’.
“And I was just behind Lawson. So, I just pressed overtake [mode], and I thought the conditions were staying the same. I was like, ‘okay, I’m not going to stop this now; I’m good’. And then I get to Turn 1, and it’s drenched.
“So, I didn’t get that information. A bit unfortunate with that. And then I was just trailing around, trying to bring the car back. So, I was lucky it wasn’t in the wall. Sorry to the team on that.
“But overall, I think the team did a really great job this weekend. We didn’t have the pace we wanted.”
Whether Ferrari’s focus has shifted to the 2027 F1 season now
With respect to Mercedes emerging as the F1 Constructors’ Champions at the 2026 São Paulo GP and whether Ferrari will divert their time and resources to the 2027 campaign immediately, Lewis Hamilton emphasised how important it is for them to hold on to second place in the standings.
At the same time, the Brit stressed that the Maranello-based squad is sparing no effort to start the next season on the right foot.
“Well, we’ve got to work to make sure we hold on to second in the Constructors’ Championship. Because that impacts everyone back in the factory. They really deserve that position. So, we’ve got to work hard in the next races.
“But for sure, in the background, we’ll be at the factory next week. We’re going to start working on where we want to go for next year.”
