Lewis Hamilton has closed down the 59-point deficit to Kimi Antonelli to just 32 points over the last five races.
During this period, he’s been on the podium in all but one race and has picked up a win as well.
To add to that, Ferrari has won two of the last three races, further solidifying the claims that the gap between the Italian team and Mercedes continues to shrink.
With the 7x F1 champion showing ruthless levels of consistency and eating into the championship lead, and with Ferrari also due to bring an ADUO upgrade soon for the power unit, it has led to an increased set of expectations around what could be on the table for Lewis Hamilton.
With Kimi Antonelli just 32 points ahead of the Ferrari driver, there are many who are starting to put Lewis Hamilton in the bracket of title contenders in 2026.
For now, though, it might be a bit premature to term Lewis Hamilton a title contender.
Ferrari’s rise linked to front-loaded upgrades
The start of the season saw Ferrari being close to a second slower than Mercedes in Australia.
That was the benchmark pace early in the year.
However, as the year has progressed, there has been a comprehensive convergence of pace, and now it is safe to say that the gap between the cars at Silverstone was around two to three tenths, with most of it made up due to much better tire degradation.
In the first nine races, Ferrari has impressed almost everyone with its rate of progress and how it has developed the car.
However, at the same time, we would be remiss if we didn’t point out the fact that the Italian outfit has also been one of the more proactive teams when it comes to bringing performance upgrades.
Since the race in Miami, Ferrari has brought two mega upgrade packages.
Both have seemingly helped Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc close the gap to Mercedes.
On the other side of the coin, we have the German outfit, which has only brought one major upgrade package.
In something that has even been pointed out by both Mercedes and McLaren recently, the Italian outfit has opted for a very aggressive approach where it is front-loading a lot of its development.
At some point, with the cost cap being a thing, the Italian team might be forced to close the tap on its resources, and that would be the point where the rivals will get the opportunity to catch up.
The improvement rate might look good for now, but there’s so much that still has to happen, and the likes of Mercedes and McLaren will get an opportunity to respond later in the year.
The power unit is still a major handicap
Even if Ferrari has been able to bring a power unit upgrade already, it is still leaking a lot of time on the straighTS. Even on a track like Silverstone, it was quite clear that the main deficit between the two cars was with the power unit.
The manner in which Kimi Antonelli overtook Lewis Hamilton in the race and never looked back did come down to that.
Because of the power unit deficit, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are forced to push the tires a lot more compared to the Mercedes duo, hence hurting tire management as well.
As is often said, power units are free lap time, and irrespective of how much of an advantage a car has, this handicap will always be a limiting factor.
The unreliable Mercedes has skewed the equation
Lewis Hamilton has closed down the deficit to Kimi Antonelli in the championship to just 32 poinTS. That’s the kind of deficit that can be easily surmounted and hence does bring the 7x F1 champion into the equation.
However, at the same time, we can’t ignore the reality of what has happened in these races that has helped Hamilton close this gap.
A lot of it comes down to the misfortune suffered by Kimi Antonelli.
The Italian has suffered two DNFs in the last three races, one from P2 in Barcelona and the other in Silverstone, where he was hunting down Charles Leclerc for the win.
This shrinkage of the championship lead has a lot to do with the Mercedes unreliability that has led to multiple DNFs.
Charles Leclerc might end up being Lewis Hamilton’s biggest rival in 2026
And finally, if the race at Silverstone showed something, it was the fact that Charles Leclerc is more or less getting to grips with Ferrari.
At the first opportunity he got, he laid down the kind of marker that should worry Lewis Hamilton.
Leclerc was lucky to win the race at Silverstone as Antonelli suffered a DNF.
At the same time, however, there’s no denying that he had a decent pace advantage over Hamilton, who suffered from understeer.
The validation of whatever Charles Leclerc has done in terms of his approach to setting up the car would come in the next race in Belgium.
But if he has figured things out, it will not come as a surprise if he slowly takes over from Lewis Hamilton as the benchmark at Ferrari.
If that happens, we’re looking at a season where the driver would ultimately be involved in a battle for supremacy against his teammate anyway.
Lest we forget, we’re not even at the halfway mark of the season, and things can change quite a bit.
Conclusion
Ferrari’s performance in the first nine races of the season has been commendable so far.
The car is fast, and it has shown impressive signs of improvement everywhere.
At the same time, it would be foolish to ignore the fact that the team has front-loaded the upgrades in 2026, and at some point, teams like Mercedes and McLaren will get a chance to respond.
For Lewis Hamilton, the gap of 32 points doesn’t look that big, but the reality is that there are far too many variables that skew what the realistic title picture is, one where the 7x F1 champion is not really a player.
