'The first step of our story': Lewis Hamilton fina...

Nate SaundersJun 14, 2026, 05:40 PM ET

BARCELONA -- Lewis Hamilton can remember being a kid, lunch on his lap, watching Michael Schumacher win Formula 1 races for Ferrari, dreaming of one day doing it himself.

On Sunday, he finally did it.

"Just been reminded that it was 30 years ago that Michael won," a beaming Hamilton said after the race, his eyes twinkling as if he was back in his hometown of Stevenage in England. "I would have been at home on my couch watching that race, probably like many of you, and with a plate on my lap, eating like a sandwich, or maybe chicken noodle soup or something like that. I was 12. And, yeah, just looking at that red car and thinking, 'I wonder what it's like sitting in that red cockpit?'"

He paused and laughed, remembering one of his few grievances with Ferrari's fast-improving 2026 car. "My cockpit happens to be white, which I've not been too happy about," he said. "I wanted [it] to be red like Michael's. I'll get it back red at some stage. But, yeah, [wondering] what it would be like to sit in that red car ... then be in that red suit, standing in first place in front of that amazing crew who was singing the national anthem.

"It was really amazing to witness and to see the joy in their eyes and to feel it with them. I nearly passed out after I hugged them. My heart was exploding with joy."

The win was merited, too, a stunning three-stop strategy perfectly executed by team and pit wall. His ferocious pace in the second and third stints brought back memories of his all-conquering pomp while at Mercedes.

Achieving his first Ferrari win on this circuit allows the parallels between him and Schumacher to continue, as well. Schumacher made his breakthrough at the Circuit de Catalunya in 1996, just over 30 years ago to the day Hamilton achieved his first in red -- a record-extending 106th in F1. Both drivers also share the record for most world championships (seven), though Hamilton long surpassed Schumacher's 68 pole positions and 91 wins -- 72 of which came with Ferrari -- in 2020.

"They're all special in their own way -- but this one is something else," Hamilton said.

To call Hamilton's journey with Ferrari a roller coaster would be a significant understatement. His baffling debut season in red last year flew in the face of everything F1 fans would have expected from a driver of any caliber -- let alone Hamilton's -- wearing the famous prancing horse logo and climbing into the sport's famous red cars.

Last year, Hamilton became the first of Ferrari's drivers who have been world champion in the current millennium (either with Ferrari or not) not to win a race in their debut season with the Scuderia. Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso did so in their debut race, in 2007 and 2008, respectively; Sebastian Vettel in his third race in 2015; Schumacher in his seventh race (in a car so bad, it was compared to a bathtub).

Even non-world champions had managed it: Rubens Barrichello did it in his 11th race in 2000; Hamilton's current teammate, Charles Leclerc, did it on his 13th in 2019. Felipe Massa -- who was denied the chance of becoming a champion by Hamilton at the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix -- did so on his 14th start in 2006. Hamilton's wait had to stretch into a 31st start, in his second season with the team, one fewer than predecessor Carlos Sainz waited before winning the 2022 British Grand Prix.

Hamilton also earned his first win since the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix -- Ferrari's first, incidentally, since the Mexico City Grand Prix later that year. In doing so, he became the first driver to win in his 40s since fellow Brit Nigel Mansell did in 1994. "After a year like last year, there were definitely moments I was like, 'Sheesh, maybe it's true that when you get to a certain point [age], you lose it,'" Hamilton, 41, said. "But I've proven you don't, you always have it."

It would have been easy for critics to write off Hamilton's move from Mercedes to Ferrari as a disaster, especially given the start of his former employers this season. Yet, even in the lowest moments, Hamilton never stopped believing it was the right move to chase his childhood ambitions.

"I think this is the first step of our story," he said.

Hamilton mirrors Schumacher with first Ferrari win

A middle finger to the critics

The Hamilton of today would have been unrecognizable to the Hamilton of 2025. Underwhelming was one way to describe his first season. Flat was another. Troubling, even, given who it was at the wheel of the car.

"I'm useless, absolutely useless," he declared after a dismal qualifying session at the Hungarian Grand Prix last July. Rubbing salt in his wound was that his new teammate Leclerc had qualified on pole. Hamilton later would say his performance was so bad Ferrari "probably need to change drivers."

Even for a man who has so openly worn his emotions on his sleeve throughout his career, it was an alarming moment of self-doubt. The mood only got darker and darker as the year went on, and as Leclerc achieved seven podiums while Hamilton had none. His relationship with race engineer Riccardo Adami sounded awkward and inefficient, and he seemed frustrated with parts of Ferrari's famously traditional operation.

Speaking after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, F1's most accomplished driver of all time looked lost, confused, even hurt that a move he had wanted for so long had turned so sour.

"I mean, I'm only human," Hamilton said Sunday, reflecting on the criticism of his 2025 performance. "There's moments where I see the stuff, and for sure there's moments where I allowed it to get to me and penetrate deeply. But, you know, then I went through a sequence of unplugging from that matrix."

Which he did. Hamilton made changes in the offseason: eplacing his former race engineer with Carlo Santi, (who joined him on the Barcelona podium after the race), as well as being more vocal in what he wanted from Ferrari. And he returned to the paddock rejuvenated. He walked, talked and drove like a man who had fallen in love with F1 and his team all over again.

"I mentioned it last year, I spent lots of time with family, friends, real people that know me, that have never doubted me, have stuck to and by me my whole life," he said. "And then I just went on the mission from Christmas Day. The training that I put in was harder than I've ever experienced, to keep myself in good shape. I think [the thing] that I know is to never second-guess yourself, never doubt yourself."

As a result, the script has flipped completely in 2026. The comparison between Hamilton and Leclerc over the past few races has looked as one-sided as it did in reverse last year. On Saturday, Leclerc sounded like he was approaching his own version of Hamilton's bleakest 2025 moments, saying repeatedly he was "ashamed" of the qualifying crash that forced him to start Sunday's race from 10th position.

"You've got to continue to believe in yourself at the core," Hamilton said. "And those are the things that I've managed to reimplement into my mentality. And it's a great feeling to stand here, or to sit here right now, but to stand on that podium."

If Hamilton might have temporarily needed reminding who he was over the past 16 months, his peers did not. George Russell, who was unable to match Hamilton's electric final stint Sunday, said the performance reminded him of his former teammate's peak.

Reigning world champion Lando Norris, the third and final piece of F1's first all-British podium since 1968, continued that praise.

"I hope he's not this fast the whole season, because it would be nice if we could battle a bit more, but good for him," Norris added. "He's obviously had a lot of people talk badly about him and he's got a lot of crap online from a lot of people, so it's nice that he can stick the middle finger up to all of them."

Another Hamilton run?

What Hamilton the Ferrari race winner or Hamilton the rejuvenated superstar means for F1's 2026 season remains to be seen. His performance was untouchable -- even with a serendipitously timed late Virtual Safety Car. It might well be a boost for a season that until now had been developing into a Mercedes fight between Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

Hamilton's three-stop strategy to win the race was a change from the one-stoppers seen so far this season, suggesting Ferrari's pace when tyre degradation is less of an issue might not quite be up to snuff. So it's impossible to know at this stage whether Hamilton's win was a one-off, or a genuine sign of a turnaround in the competitive order. Both Ferrari and Mercedes are also due additional engine upgrades over the next couple of years thanks to complicated mechanisms in the sport's new engine regulations.

Team boss Fred Vasseur was quick to temper the talk of a title challenge. But this new Hamilton already looks like he could be a season-long thorn in Mercedes' side. If anyone would know about that, it is Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who won 84 races and six titles with his former driver.

"I'd rather not fight with him for a title, because I know what he's capable of," Wolff said Sunday. "If he smells blood, he goes. I've seen it many years where suddenly the Lewis Hamilton train started to go and then it's very difficult to stop it.

"Knowing Lewis Hamilton too, I mean, getting the championship is only a matter of his mind. Do you think it's really a possibility this season? Yes, absolutely."

Sunday's result was a special moment in the history of Hamilton, Ferrari and Formula 1.

"I'm probably going to sleep in this red top tonight! It's a good feeling to have the [prancing] horse on there at top," Hamilton said.

It's just one trophy after a lengthy drought -- for both driver and team. But it should be noted, the beaming Hamilton who vowed to sleep in his Ferrari team kit on Sunday did not look like a man who will be content with finishing his career as a one-time Ferrari grand prix winner.