Lewis Hamilton left Las Vegas with four points and a heavy heart. After a sodden qualifying that dumped him to the back, and a recovery drive to eighth thanks to McLaren’s post‑race double disqualification, the seven-time world champion cut a starkly defeated figure — and not just about this season.
“I’m eager for it to end. I’m not looking forward to the next one,” he said. Asked if he meant the next race in Qatar, Hamilton clarified: “Next season.”
That’s a jolt. The 2026 rules reset — new chassis and power unit regulations — has been widely painted as Ferrari’s clean slate and Hamilton’s shot at a reboot. Instead, the Briton sounded like a driver staring at a long winter with little faith the glow will return. “It’s a terrible result. There is nothing positive to take from today,” he told TV cameras. Later, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, he went further, calling 2025 “the worst season ever.”
On paper, Sunday wasn’t disastrous. Hamilton qualified dead last in the wet, then gained a place with Yuki Tsunoda starting from the pit lane. He kept his nose clean as the midfield erupted on lap one, climbed to 13th and, with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri disqualified after the flag, was classified eighth. Four points. But it felt empty to him. “Zero” satisfaction, as he put it. “Tried everything, and it’s not working.”
That last line will sting in Maranello. Ferrari moved heaven and earth to get Hamilton in red, and with two rounds left in 2025 they’re still scrapping to rescue the Constructors’ fight. Max Verstappen won in Vegas; after McLaren’s DSQs, Mercedes celebrated a double podium with George Russell promoted to P2 and Kimi Antonelli to P3; Charles Leclerc took P4. The net effect? Ferrari sits fourth in the standings, 13 points behind Red Bull and 53 adrift of Mercedes, with precious little runway remaining. Hamilton, meanwhile, trails Leclerc by 74 in the Drivers’ table.
It’s rare to hear Hamilton this flat. Even during Mercedes’ lean years he often found a rallying cry, or at least a silver lining. In Las Vegas there was none. Ferrari will chalk some of it up to the heat of the moment — Hamilton’s always worn his heart on his sleeve — but the messaging matters. When your marquee signing says he’s dreading next year, eyebrows rise all the way to the race shop.
The irony? Vegas was the sort of gritty, low-drama salvage job Hamilton built a career on: make ground at the start, stay out of trouble, cash the cheque when rivals slip up. It just didn’t move the needle on the bigger story. This Ferrari-Hamilton partnership hasn’t clicked. The qualifying window is narrow, the race pace inconsistent, and whenever there’s a chance to build a result, something — weather, traffic, setup — undercuts the rhythm. “At this rate, with my performance, we don’t [have a chance],” he admitted when asked about Ferrari’s shot at P2 in the championship.
All of which frames 2026 less as a fresh dawn and more as a pressure cooker. The new regulations demand clarity and conviction from teams. Ferrari’s power unit group is bullish about the hybrid era to come. The chassis department believes the aero shift can play to its strengths. But confidence has to meet correlation, and Hamilton has to feel it in the car, not the briefings.
For now, the mission is simpler and more urgent: end 2025 tidily, get Hamilton back into a rhythm he trusts, and stop the narrative from running away. One honest, downbeat Sunday night doesn’t define a project. Another few like it might.
In Vegas, neon hid the rain but not the mood. Hamilton’s drive was tidy. His words were sharper. And for Ferrari, the message landed: if 2026 is the grand plan, it needs to start feeling real a lot sooner than “next season.”
