{"id":761112,"date":"2026-06-26T07:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T07:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/761112\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T07:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T07:51:11","slug":"f1-news-2026-lewis-hamilton-reveals-neck-injury-comments-austrian-grand-prix-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/761112\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 news 2026: Lewis Hamilton reveals neck injury comments, Austrian Grand Prix preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lewis Hamilton<\/a> has revealed the full extent of a shocking neck injury he suffered in a testing crash in early 2025.<\/p>\n

Hamilton initially made the injury revelation last time out at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix<\/a>, where he finally broke his duck and claimed a maiden grand prix victory for Ferrari<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton in the paddock ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix.\u00a0AP Photo\/Denes Erdos<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning of last year I got injured here, actually, and carried that for months,\u201d the seven-time champion said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to media ahead of this weekend\u2019s Austrian Grand Prix<\/a>, Hamilton was pushed for more details of the crash, which happened in just his second outing in a Ferrari at the Barcelona circuit during a closed-doors test last January.<\/p>\n

At the time Ferrari said Hamilton was \u201cunhurt\u201d in the crash, but Hamilton in Austria suggested that was far from the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hit the wall very hard last year in testing \u2026 knocked out one of the discs in my neck, which was into the nerve,\u201d he said per The Race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t do a lot for like nine weeks. I was having chiropractors every day, physically every day I couldn\u2019t sleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had painkillers, I had to get an injection, I did everything I could to try to fix it. So that\u2019s what I was basically trying to live with. It\u2019s not easy in the position that you\u2019re sitting in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cnine weeks\u201d claim indicates he was carrying the after-effects at least through the opening two grands prix of 2025 in Melbourne<\/a> and Shanghai<\/a>, where he started on pole and won the sprint race.<\/p>\n

Last time out in Barcelona, Hamilton put in a stonking drive to victory<\/a>. His surge to the front was aided by a perfectly timed virtual safety car, but it\u2019s widely believed he and his Ferrari had the pace to get past the Mercedes<\/a> duo on pace alone.<\/p>\n

Hamilton said he was given something of a hero\u2019s welcome when he returned to Maranello.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had just landed at the airport, I saw how important it was for the police officers at immigration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were the first Italians to see as I landed. As I got to Maranello, just seeing how happy everybody was. There\u2019s always been a good energy in the team. I think it felt even higher for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferrari are once again expected to be strong in the Styrian mountains, where a heat hazard has been declared<\/a> as a heatwave continues its way across Europe.<\/p>\n

The team has also brought an engine upgrade which will help down the three long straights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working more cohesively, more tight-knit than ever before with great leadership from (team principal Fred Vasseur),\u201d Hamilton said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hamilton won his first grand prix as a Ferrari driver last time out in Barcelona.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great that we have a car with things that I\u2019d asked for. We\u2019re moving together and collaborating really well. I love driving this car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got things that I\u2019d asked for and I\u2019m now starting to be able to execute them. So that\u2019s the thing that feels the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really not thinking that I\u2019m competing for a championship. I\u2019m thinking about: \u2018Wow, I want to win this weekend\u2019. That\u2019s my goal. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve been working towards for the last full week. Last week and this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Practice for the Austrian Grand Prix begins on Friday night (AEST), ahead of qualifying on Saturday. The race starts at 11pm Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton has revealed the full extent of a shocking neck injury he suffered in a testing crash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-761112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}