Lewis Hamilton: Ferrari driver says he ‘really believes’ he can challenge for 2026 F1 title ahead of Hungarian GP | F1 News

Lewis Hamilton says he ‘really believes’ Ferrari can enable him to fight for an eighth world championship title this season.

Hamilton is second in the standings, 45 points behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, heading into this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix – the 11th of the season’s 22 currently scheduled rounds.

It is the first time Max Verstappen has been in contention for the title since he was controversially dropped in 2021 and the 41-year-old said he would love to be back in the mix.

“It’s amazing,” said Hamilton, who was impressed after a difficult first campaign with Ferrari in 2026.

“It’s a great feeling, especially when you look at the contrast to where I was here last year.

“I’m really proud of the team for the curve and the steps we’ve taken collectively and I always have to acknowledge my own efforts and the work I’ve done and the changes I’ve made to enable us to be where we are and I’m really proud of myself for that.

“There’s still a lot of work to do and we still have a mountain to climb in the second half of the season but I’m more focused than ever and I really believe we can fight.”

Despite Antonelli’s superb form, Hamilton insists the Hungarian Grand Prix, the final race before the sport’s summer break, is not a make or break for his hopes of chasing down the 19-year-old Italian.

“We continue to evolve, we continue to push,” Hamilton said. “There’s still a long way to go. I don’t see this or the next one as a break point. I don’t know when it becomes a break point, if there is a break point.

“Now is the time for us to keep hammering away and double down on our development and keep pushing.

“As a team we’ve got two wins, a lot of podiums – we’re on their (Mercedes) tail and I think we’re now able to compete with them more consistently for wins, which I think is positive.”

‘Mercedes is still the car to beat in Hungary’

Ferrari have been claimed by some as favorites at the Hunger Games due to the expectation that their car’s characteristics will suit the circuit.

Ferrari is usually unable to match the performance of the Mercedes power unit, but the high number of slower corners in Budapest theoretically makes the deficit less of an issue.

Nevertheless, Hamilton is taking nothing for granted, insisting that Mercedes remain the ‘car to beat’.

“I don’t want to guess,” Hamilton said. “The last couple races, in the end we should have won the last two races if we could have perfected the weekend. The car was able to win.

“At Spa we were more competitive than we thought and I missed something that weekend and it’s not what I want to do this weekend.

“We have a car that can compete. I think Mercedes still have the car to beat, naturally, because they’ve won the most and it won’t be easy to beat them this weekend.

“But we’ve made fine progress and hopefully can fight them this weekend.”

Sky Sports F1’s Hungarian GP schedule

Thursday 23 July
2pm: Drivers press conference
5pm: Paddock uncut

Friday 24 July
8.50am: Exercised F3
10am: F2 practice
12.00pm: Hungarian GP Practice One (Session starts at 12.30pm)*
1.55pm: F3 Qualifying
3pm: F2 Qualifying
3.45pm: Hungarian GP Practice Two (Session starts at 4pm)
5.15pm: The F1 show

Saturday 25 July
9am: F3 sprint
11.15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint*
2.15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying Build-up*
3pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying*
5pm: Ted’s Qualifications Notebook*

Sunday 26th July
7.35am: F3 Feature Race
9.05am: Porsche Supercup
10.20am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Hungarian GP Build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
2pm: Hungarian Grand Prix*
4pm: Hungarian GP Reaction: Checkered Flag*
5pm: Ted’s Notebook*

*Also on Sky Sports main events

Formula 1 heads to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix live from this Friday with every session on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel anytime