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Championship position: 2nd (two wins, 307 points) After a dreadfully soul-sapping 2025 campaign, Ferrari has been rejuvenated in 2026, producing a compliant and competitive car in the SF-26, which has enabled Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to return to winning ways. The car has been fast and workable through the majority of the campaign, and has operated strongly in different conditions, while regular update packages brought to the machine—including a sizeable one in Spain—have been effective. There was also the innovative “macarena” rear wing which indicated the risk-taking culture that boss Fred Vasseur has striven to cultivate. Ferrari’s early-season advantage off-the-line also proved prosperous, and while that benefit was negated through minor rule changes, the team has been quick despite not having the best power unit. It has ADUO, and can develop accordingly, raising further hope for the future. One of its strengths has been reliability, particularly from the power unit, with its only race-ending mechanical issue coming from a power steering failure which afflicted Leclerc in Barcelona. Ferrari retains an outside chance of ending its 18-year wait for a Constructors’ crown, with a 72-point deficit to Mercedes large but not insurmountable, having outscored the leaders since Barcelona. “The first part of the season was probably in two stages,” said Vasseur. “The first one until Spain, when Mercedes was flying, they scored something like 100 points more than us in the four or five events, after Spain we came back, we scored more points more than Mercedes in these four-five races. “We know we have to improve on then engine side, we will do it, the inertia on the engine is much higher than the chassis, the most important will be to keep the pace in development. We have the approach of trying to bring parts every race, we have to keep the momentum, there’s still 11–12 races to go, it’s a lot, we have room for improvement and we have to keep this pace.” Lewis Hamilton had a so-so start to his second campaign in red, and a podium result in China was well-received but taken with a pinch of salt, given his stellar record at the venue, and it was duly followed by low-key back-to-back sixths. But Hamilton then kicked into life in Canada, reinforced the speed in Monaco, and flew in Barcelona, maximizing the strategy to deliver his first triumph for Ferrari. Hamilton has appeared a figure transformed from some of the lows of 2025, when he publicly questioned his own ability, having put in the hard yards over the winter. Hamilton clicked with Carlo Santi, who was only supposed to be a temporary stand-in as race engineer, but swiftly became his “Italian Bono,” a reference to the strong bond Hamilton had with Pete Bonnington at Mercedes. “A lot of pawns have moved, managed to move a lot of things on the chessboard, and reposition myself, I think, within the team,” Hamilton said at the Monaco Grand Prix. That extra input on the car, extra year with his feet under the table, and pushing the team to take certain directions—such as his switch to a different brake supplier—has also facilitated Hamilton’s progress. There have been setbacks; recent races have been hindered by a lack of execution and time penalties—some warranted, others harsh—which have stymied the optimum result and cost a smattering of points. But this has been Hamilton’s strongest season since 2021; at 41, he is now Formula 1’s oldest winner since 1970, is second in the championship, and has an outside chance at shooting for that elusive eighth crown. Leclerc has had a more up-and-down season, having started strongly while Mercedes was in control, before an error on the last lap in Miami started a tailspin that included three crashes in eight days, an ill-feeling with the SF-26, and overall bemusement and frustration at his predicament. But tweaks through the Silverstone weekend revitalized his prospects, and he seized his chance to triumph for the first time in nearly two years, before following it up with another race-leading display in Belgium. A trio of grands prix in which Leclerc pocketed only four points may have ended any long-shot hopes of the title, but having both drivers in a confident and competitive position is a huge boost for Ferrari’s prospects. “I started the season being very at ease with the car and very strong with the car,” Leclerc said. “I had Monaco and Montreal, where I was struggling a lot, then it came back a bit. It’s not black and white so much with these cars, there’s so many variables, to understand the full implications when you are a little bit off is more difficult than what it seems. U.K.-based Phillip Horton started covering Grands Prix while still at university and swiftly deemed that writing about Formula 1 and the behind-the-scenes machinations was much more engaging than reading centuries-old novels. Degree gained, he went on to cover the sport full-time from 2014 and is as intrigued and excited by the destinations Formula 1 visits during its lengthy annual world tour as the racing itself. Phillip joined Autoweek in 2021 and while he has just about learned to spell in American English he has yet to find anywhere in America that makes a proper cup of tea.