Lewis Hamilton says he finds F1’s new 2026 car “more fun” to drive after Ferrari made an encouraging start to pre-season in Barcelona.

The seven-time world champion has made no secret of his distaste for the last era of cars featuring ground-effect aerodynamics in 2022, saying at the end of last season “I don’t miss a thing about these cars”.

2022-2025 coincides with Hamilton’s least successful period in F1, with the Briton being overtaken by his teammates (Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc) in three of those four seasons.

But as part of a comprehensive rewrite of the technical rulebook, F1 has moved to a more agile, narrower chassis and a more conventional floor to reduce downforce in 2026.

After completing 209 laps in Ferrari’s new SF-26 over three days of racing in Spain, Hamilton said: “This generation of car is actually more fun to drive.

“It oversteers, it’s fast and it slides, but it’s easier to catch and I would definitely say more fun.”

Hamilton said there was a lot to take away from the first pre-season test.

“It’s been a really enjoyable week to be honest,” he said.

“I think I personally did a lot of work over the winter, but the team made a lot of changes over the winter going into testing.”

The 41-year-old also said he feels good energy within Ferrari as the team works to recover from the major disappointment of a winless 2025 campaign.

Hamilton added: “We had a good debriefing and everyone was very engaged.”

“I definitely feel the winning mentality from everyone on the team more than ever, so that’s a positive.”

“Everyone is full of new energy this year”

As for the new car’s early performance on the track, Ferrari were the only team other than Mercedes to complete more than 400 laps in testing, with Hamilton’s fastest lap of the final afternoon a tenth of a second faster than Russell’s benchmark the day before.

But Hamilton stressed: “I mean, we have no illusions. We know we have work to do.

“Mercedes has had some great results as well. I think Red Bull and Haas have had some great results as well, so we don’t really know where we are, but I think it’s been a solid first week and we can really start from here.

“So we may need to make some big leaps. Development will be key.

“We want to make sure we leave no stone unturned and that our communications and the decisions we make are clear and concise.

“It takes all of us being at our best. I just see a real new energy from everyone this year, which is great.”

When does the F1 Bahrain pre-season test take place?

The introduction of the new regulations means there will be a full schedule of three separate testing events before the start of the 2026 season.

With the closed race in Barcelona over, F1 will next head to Bahrain for two “official” pre-season tests, where the media will be present and on-track timing will be provided.

The two three-day Tests in Bahrain are held from February 11 to 13 and 18 to 20 respectively.

When was the first F1 race?

Teams then have two weeks to prepare for the first round of the season, the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne from March 6-8.

The first practice session of the season will be held on Friday 6 March, qualifying will be held on Saturday 7 March and the opening race will be held on Sunday 8 March.

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