Undeniable Lewis Hamilton proof at F1 2026 midpoint as reality sets in | F1 | Sport

Lewis Hamilton is undoubtedly a Formula 1 title threat again – but a messy last few weeks may yet derail his championship bid. After a miserable first year in Ferrari red, he has this season checked off some of those “firsts” he said he was looking forward to when he joined the Scuderia.

Aged 41, his first podium was secured at the Chinese Grand Prix, in his 26th Ferrari start. And in mid-June came the long-awaited first victory, in Barcelona. The expectation from there was that he and Ferrari would kick on. While they have, to an extent, Hamilton will head into his summer holidays wondering what might have been.

Because he should be a lot close than 50 points behind shock leader Kimi Antonelli. At Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps in particular, the chance to build momentum was there. Team-mate Charles Leclerc proved it by winning the British Grand Prix and finishing second in Belgium a week later.

Hamilton? Hampered by penalties in both those races, and two more at the Hungarian Grand Prix last Sunday. There’s no obvious pattern. He jumped the start at Silverstone. A week later, he picked up a dubious five seconds for punting George Russell off on the first lap, when he had nowhere else really to go.

In Hungary he was penalised twice, first for impeding another driver in qualifying and then pit lane speeding. Both were avoidable had Ferrari’s execution that weekend not been, as boss Fred Vasseur put it, “very poor”. But, as Hamilton himself admitted, he must stop giving the stewards a reason to punish him.

He’s two full Grand Prix victories’ worth of points adrift of Antonelli. It’s far from insurmountable with 12 rounds (probably) still to go, though it leaves little more room for error if this is to be Hamilton’s Ferrari fairytale. The truly staggering story at this halfway stage is just how good Antonelli has been.

This was supposed to be George Russell‘s year, with Mercedes expected to dominate at least the early rounds. That is what transpired but while Russell has been besieged by bad luck, his junior partner has barely put a foot wrong.

His six wins have put Antonelli in a commanding position while technical failures in Barcelona and at Silverstone, both of which struck while he was running in the top three, are the only reason why his podium record is not perfect. All before his 20th birthday later this month.

We’ve seen no evidence whatsoever to suggest Antonelli will crumble. He is the overwhelming favourite to smash the record for F1’s youngest ever champion, held by Sebastian Vettel who was 23. That said, it’s too early to count out Hamilton, Leclerc, Russell, Lando Norris after his first win last Sunday and even Max Verstappen, who is remarkably still winless so far this year.

Alpine started strongest in the fight to be best of the rest but a recent late surge has seen Racing Bulls leapfrog them into fifth. Liam Lawson is thriving after his demotion from the main Red Bull team while new team-mate Arvid Lindblad, 18, has scored on eight weekends out of 11, proving why he’s Britain’s next big star.

Oliver Bearman started strong and has blown experienced team-mate Esteban Ocon away, though Haas’ performance has declined swiftly. Williams haven’t got going at all, leaving London-born Thai Alex Albon furious and prompting Carlos Sainz to consider his options, which include Alpine and Audi.

Newcomers Cadillac have made a solid start but reliability has proven to be a persistent problem. Still, they were beating Aston Martin for a while. But Adrian Newey‘s B-spec car added huge performance in Hungary and, with more parts and a new Honda engine coming after the summer, there’s plenty of optimism there again.