Lewis Hamilton has vowed that his “goal is to win” as he embarks on his second Formula 1 season with Ferrari in 2026.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton heads into his 20th season in F1 off the back of a hugely disappointing debut campaign with Ferrari following his blockbuster switch from Mercedes.
Hamilton failed to record a grand prix podium finish for the first time in his illustrious F1 career last year, and was well beaten by new teammate Charles Leclerc as Ferrari underwhelmed.
But Hamilton has made it clear that he remains focused on his goal of winning a record eighth world title and ending Ferrari’s F1 title drought.
“The goal is to win. That’s what we’re working towards,” Hamilton said in Thursday’s FIA drivers’ press conference in Melbourne ahead of this weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
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“Every team is, but that’s our goal: to maximise on every opportunity, to be hopefully fighting in the top group, hopefully in the first races.
“We don’t really know. Mercedes looked particularly quick, and I’m not really sure whether we’ve seen the full, unleashed Red Bull yet, so it’s really, really exciting.
“But whatever the case, I feel like I’ve got a great group of people behind me who are head down focused on bringing performance and really maximising every weekend.”
Hamilton and Ferrari arrive in Melbourne off the back of a very positive pre-season, having enjoyed strong reliability and mileage, while also topping the timesheet in both Barcelona and Bahrain.
“We got great mileage done in winter testing. An amazing amount of work has been done from the team back at the factory, but also delivering on those tests, and we’ve learned a lot from last year,” Hamilton added.
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“We’re leaving behind the bad and moving forwards with the good. We’re sharp, prepared, and we know what we need to do. We also know there are massive challenges for all of us with the new rules and regulations.”
Despite still not having a permanent race engineer in place after Riccardo Adami was moved into a new role in January, Hamilton insisted he feels much better placed going into his second Ferrari season.
“It’s massively different to the first year and a much nicer feeling, having spent a year at the team, understanding the culture, understanding ways, finding ways of working together,” the Briton explained.
“I think we’re in a good place now together as a team, and I feel very gelled with the team today. So yeah, much happier.”
Hamilton’s winter of soul-searching and ‘rediscovery’ 
Hamilton is reset and refreshed after the winter
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Hamilton ended a bruising 2025 visibly deflated and appearing defeated, having made a series of negative comments about his lacklustre performances over the course of the season.
Such remarks led to questions over Hamilton’s future in F1, but the 41-year-old has emerged from the winter break refreshed and re-energised with a notable shift in his tone and outlook.
Asked where his positivity had come from, Hamilton replied: “A combination of things. The break was really positive. It was my surroundings, it was the people that I was with. It’s not my first rodeo, so it’s understanding how to flip things.
“It’s not that easy to do each time, but I always talk about cultivating a positive mental attitude and that’s what I focus on in my winter. A lot of it came from training. I was training hard from Christmas Day.
“Also, knowing that I believe in myself, that I’ve put more work in than anyone around me, and I believe in myself.
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“Rediscovering myself was a big part of it as well. As I said in one of my posts, I kind of lost sight for a second of who I was, and that person’s gone, so you won’t see that person again.”
Hamilton described his period of soul-searching as an important moment in his life as he looks to get back on track in 2026.
“I think it was just something that built up over a period of time,” he said. “It’s normal. Lots of people have that at some point through their lives, and it’s important that you pick yourself back up and you evaluate where you’ve been and, as I said, come back with that positive mental frame of mind.
“I feel great arriving here. Training has been fantastic. The work with the team has been amazing. Changes within my own personal space, and in how I interact with the team, how the team is working, is so much smoother than it was last year.”
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