Lewis Hamilton will retire from F1 at the end of the 2026 season if Ferrari cannot deliver a competitive car, according to Guenther Steiner.<\/p>\n
The former Haas team principal believes the British driver will not “put himself through that again” if the Scuderia cannot right the wrongs of the campaign just run.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Arriving at Maranello on a wave of optimism and anticipation, the seven-time F1 drivers’ champion teaming up with the iconic Italian outfit fell well short of expectations.<\/p>\n
Ferrari was coming off finishing second in the constructors’ championship and was poised to fight for a first title since 2008, but the SF-25 disappointed \u2014 and Hamilton underwhelmed.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old routinely cut a dispondent and dejected figure when speaking to media, as he stumbled to the first podium-less season of his career.<\/p>\n
However, Steiner still has faith that the 105-time grand prix winner can recapture his form. But he does believe it will be contingent upon Ferrari delivering a car to match his abilities.<\/p>\n
“I believe if Ferrari has a good car next season, it’s possible,” The Italian told Sport Krone when asked if he felt Hamilton could turn the situation around.<\/p>\n
He was, nonetheless, quick to highlight the challenge of sharing a garage with Charles Leclerc, who outscored Hamilton by 86 points in 2025.<\/p>\n
“We must never forget that he has a very good team-mate in Charles Leclerc,” the 60-year-old added.<\/p>\n
“Leclerc has made it onto the podium a few times, but hasn’t won a race. With this car, though, a podium finish was a respectable achievement.”<\/p>\n
With the F1 regulations overhaul bringing brand new chassis and power units, there is every opportunity for Ferrari to revive its fortunes after a winless campaign.<\/p>\n
To Steiner, that alone will be key to determining Hamilton’s future beyond 2026, labelling it a “pivotal season” for the Ferrari driver.<\/p>\n
“If they’re more competitive next season, Lewis will be able to find his motivation again,” He explained.<\/p>\n
“But if things continue as they are, next season will certainly be his last in Formula 1. He’s not going to put himself through that again.<\/p>\n
“The situation is very difficult for him, as was evident in every interview. So, it will be a pivotal season for him.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton will retire from F1 at the end of the 2026 season if Ferrari cannot deliver a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,2476,578,2479,2477,2480,2478,930,576,577,932,1885,2475,582,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-379214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-daniel-ricciardo","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-f1-calendar","13":"tag-f1-live","14":"tag-f1-results","15":"tag-f1-standings","16":"tag-ferrari","17":"tag-formula-1","18":"tag-formula1","19":"tag-lewis-hamilton","20":"tag-max-verstappen","21":"tag-motorsport","22":"tag-racing","23":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}