Lewis Hamilton supporters can begin to feel excited for the rest of the Formula One campaign judging by the numbers from qualifying sessions this season.
Hamilton secured a third-place finish at the British Grand Prix on Sunday despite being handed a five-second time penalty for a false start at the beginning of the Silverstone race.
Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc was delighted to come out on top after winning his first race of the Formula One season.
The 28-year-old finished 0.427s ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, who benefitted after deciding against pitting when the Safety Car was deployed following Max Verstappen’s crash on lap 48.
Kimi Antonelli, meanwhile, crossed the line in ninth but was demoted to 16th due to a five-second penalty after exceeding track limiTS.
Antonelli remains 35 points ahead of third-place Hamilton at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, and Ferrari’s improvement in recent weeks is there for all to see ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix on July 19.
Leclerc’s victory at Silverstone meant Ferrari closed the gap to 78 points behind Mercedes in the race for the Constructors’ Championship, while one qualifying statistic paints a promising picture of their chances for the rest of the campaign.
At the Australian Grand Prix in March, their gap to pole position was 1.030% as Leclerc and Hamilton finished 15 and 16 seconds, respectively, behind Russell.
Ferrari have since made a remarkable resurgence to challenge Mercedes after making 32 individual aerodynamic upgrades to their car, including two big packages in Miami and Spain.
Hamilton and Leclerc have benefitted hugely from these changes, with their gap to pole at Silverstone decreasing by a relative 80.7% from their performance at the Australian Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s gap to pole in 2026
- Australia – 1.030%
- China – 0.381%
- Japan – 0.591%
- Miami – 0.393%
- Canada – 0.400%
- Monaco – 0.316%
- Barcelona – 0.086%
- Austria – 0.357%
- Silverstone – 0.199%
Lewis Hamilton already believes Ferrari can get to ‘magical’ place
An incredible comeback is on the cards for Hamilton and Ferrari as he aims to win his eighth Drivers’ Championship.
Advert
The above statistics prove that they’re fast on their way to becoming the fastest team on the grid, and the legendary Englishman already believes he can help Ferrari get to a “magical place”.
“My approach is full attack, full commitment, trying to continuously galvanise the team and push in the right direction,” Hamilton said.
“I think we have a North Star.
We know where we need to go.
“Getting there takes a lot of work, and it’s not as easy as just fixing something for next week.
And just staying all aligned and continuing to push.
“If we’re all rowing in the same direction at the same strength.
I think we can potentially get to a magical place.”
Hamilton has already scored almost as many points this season (147) as he did in the whole of last season (156), which shows an incredible improvement in itself.
But the 41-year-old will want to continue spearheading his team’s recovery in 2026 to truly challenge his old Mercedes team.
