Lewis Hamilton failed to finish the 2026 F1 Spanish GP after a brake failure in his Ferrari meant he had to retire from the inaugural race at the Madring after just six laps of racing.
Hamilton responds to Verstappen’s “Mickey Mouse racing” radio outburst over first lap of 2026 F1 Spanish GP
The seven-time F1 world champion made a good start from fourth on the grid at the Spanish GP. Having won the 2026 Barcelona-Catlunya GP taking advantage of the soft tyres, he started the Madrid race on the same strategy – at one point even diving to the inside of pole-sitter Lando Norris, but failing to make the move stick into the first corner.
But as that happened, Hamilton inadvertently made Max Verstappen take evasive action at the second part of the chicane, to which the Dutchman was very upset about.
Hamilton explained he “didn’t see” the Red Bull on his outside as he was already well ahead going into the first turn:
“I had a good start, I mean, I didn’t see Max [Verstappen], as I overtook Max at the start.”
Verstappen was later instructed by his race engineer to give the place back to Hamilton, which subsequently also allowed eventual race winner Kimi Antonelli through. The Dutchman called it “f****** Mickey Mouse racing” over the radio.
When asked about Verstappen’s remarks, Hamilton gave a pretty blunt response, describing it as “pretty good racing” at the first few corners:
“Well, it’s pretty good racing to be honest,” he said.
Hamilton’s brake pedal “went long” on the second lap of 2026 F1 Spanish GP
Briefly after regaining the place on Verstappen, the Briton’s race was soon derailed by a failure on his brakes, which caused to him to enter the chicane at turn five with too much speed and clip the barrier on the exit. By that point, he explained his brakes weren’t working properly, and although it came back shortly after, the damage was done after the pedal “went long“:
“I mean, I wasn’t in the battle going down into Turn 5, but then when I went into Turn 5, I hit the brake, it started stopping OK,” he explained. “And then [on the next lap] the pedal took a step and ended up [like that], it wouldn’t stop all of a sudden and ended up going wide in.
“That’s when I just tapped the barrier, but it wasn’t really, it didn’t feel bad, like a bad touch.
“Then the pedal came back and it was fine for the next corners and things were looking OK, and then the pedal went long, and that was it.”
When asked about the nature of the failure, Hamilton explained he hadn’t gone back to his team yet to analyse the possible causes:
“I haven’t seen it yet, so I just came straight from [the car].”
Ferrari had a “pretty decent” car in Madrid
Although the weekend fell away from Hamilton, who was as high as provisional pole before the final runs of Q3, the seven-time champion was positive that the Maranello squad had a “pretty decent” car around the Madrid F1 circuit, and believes the upward trend can continue in the next few rounds:
“I mean, I think we had a good [performance]. Charles [Leclerc] is in the lead right now [said when the race was still ongoing].”
Leclerc eventually finished in fourth place after stopping for new soft tyres just a few laps from the end after leading most of the race after the Virtual Safety Car.
“We’ve had a pretty decent car, a good car this weekend, and I think we will continue to try and improve it, and I think we have better results coming in the future.”
After his first DNF of the season, Lewis Hamilton still sits third in the drivers’ championship, but now a whopping 101 points back from championship leader Kimi Antonelli, with just eight or nine rounds remaining of the 2026 F1 season after the Spanish GP.
