Hamilton Calls for Positivity as Ferrari's Title Hopes Slip Away

Lewis Hamilton is done entertaining the doom-and-gloom crowd. With the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the horizon, the seven-time world champion is urging fans and pundits to zoom out and appreciate what Ferrari have built this season — even if the championship trophy is no longer a realistic target.

101 Points Is a Mountain, Hamilton Admits

The numbers are brutal. Kimi Antonelli leads the Drivers' Championship by 101 points over Hamilton, a gap that ballooned by roughly 40 points across just two races. A first retirement of the season in Madrid — combined with Hamilton's podium drought since Silverstone in early July — has effectively ended his title fight before the season hits its final third.

According to Sky Sports, Hamilton was direct when asked about his championship prospects: "He's 101 points ahead of me. Just in two races he gained something like 40-odd points on me, and we've been working so hard to gain just a couple of points here and there."

That's the hard truth. But Hamilton isn't ready to write off the rest of the season.

A 'Huge Achievement' Still Within Reach

With 20 points separating Hamilton from third-placed George Russell in the standings, the battle for runner-up in the Drivers' Championship is very much alive. Hamilton has his sights locked on his former Mercedes team-mate.

"If at the end of the year, managing to stay in the top three, even second, I think would be a huge achievement for us as a team," Hamilton said. Getting ahead of Russell, he acknowledged, won't be easy — Mercedes have been the dominant force all year — but he's not backing down from the fight.

It's a measured goal, but a meaningful one. Hamilton has consistently framed his Ferrari chapter as a long-term project, and finishing ahead of a top Mercedes outfit would represent real proof of progress.

Wins, Podiums, and a Team on the Rise

Hamilton's case for optimism rests on trajectory. Ferrari were winless through the entirety of 2025, sliding to fourth in the Constructors' Championship. This season tells a very different story. Hamilton broke through for his first Ferrari victory at the Spanish Grand Prix in June, with Charles Leclerc adding another win at Silverstone shortly after.

"We've been fighting, we've had wins and podiums, the team have done an incredible job in terms of bringing upgrades," Hamilton said. "You really have to acknowledge the good things we've done this year."

The frustration is that Ferrari have repeatedly shown competitive pace on Thursdays and Fridays only to see results undermined by strategic missteps and operational errors that have been very much self-inflicted. Those execution problems have been a recurring theme throughout the campaign and remain the team's most pressing internal challenge.

"It's just they haven't been the best in terms of execution and we've not had the best results," Hamilton conceded. "But the positives we take forwards and we try and learn from the areas we weren't as good."

Russell Keeps Fighting, Eyes 2027

Over at Mercedes, Russell is in a similar spot — effectively out of title contention but refusing to dial it back. Antonelli leads his team-mate by 81 points, a gap Russell acknowledges while still vowing to chase victories every single weekend.

"I'm going to keep fighting every single race until it's mathematically impossible," Russell said in Baku on Wednesday. He also flagged meaningful progress since the summer break, particularly in race pace — an area that had been a genuine weakness — and is already thinking about continuity heading into 2027, with regulations remaining relatively stable.

For Hamilton, the Baku street circuit offers a fresh opportunity to close on Russell and silence the sceptics. Ferrari's qualifying pace has generally been a strong suit this season — now it's about converting that into clean, well-executed race results when it matters most.