Ferrari urged to prioritise Hamilton as their 'only chance' of winning 2026 F1 title
Photo: Race Pictures
Updated: 13:42, 10 Jul
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Henry Eccles is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs, and features across the F1 calendar. Since joining in 2026, he has produced high-volume reporting on the sport’s biggest stories, alongside feature pieces including analysis and historical content.
Ferrari have been told to prioritise Lewis Hamilton as the team's "only chance" of beating Mercedes in the 2026 F1 title fight by former race engineer Rob Smedley. Despite Charles Leclerc's win at Silverstone last time out, Smedley argues the Briton is the Scuderia's best shot at their first title since 2008.
After a strong start to the 2026 season for Hamilton, securing his maiden Ferrari win in Barcelona after two consecutive P2 finished in Montreal and Monaco, Leclerc finally responded with a win of his own at the British GP.
Fortune might have favoured the Monegasque - with Kimi Antonelli suffering late damage, and Max Verstappen's Lap 48 crash bringing out an all-important Safety Car - but Leclerc reminded the F1 world he can still be at least an equal to the seven-time world champion, who finished P3.
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Smedley urges Ferrari to prioritise Hamilton
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Photo: Race Pictures
Smedley, however, is convinced the Italian squad already have to start prioritising Hamilton, with the Briton sitting P3 in the standings, only 32 points off Antonelli's championship lead after nine rounds of racing.
When asked on the High Performance Racing podcast whether Ferrari could have swapped the cars during the British GP, Smedley, who worked at Ferrari from 2004 to 2013, most notably as Felipe Massa's race engineer, replied: "100% agree with that.
“However, I am going to go against my own sense of logic and say I actually think that doing something as extreme as that is the only chance Ferrari has of winning this world championship."
Citing Ferrari's overall lack of pace compared with Mercedes, and the on-track battles Hamilton and Leclerc have already had this season, in China or Austria for instance, Smedley argued giving equal treatment to their driver pairing "significantly diminishes" their chance at the drivers' title.
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Smedley was part of the team at Ferrari when they last won the constructors' title in 2008, and while on the other side of the garage, Kimi Raikkonen was the last to win the drivers' championship in red the year prior.
He added: "I think that if they play the game of trying to outpace Mercedes in car terms, and then they play the game of allowing the drivers to race each other with such a big gap between Lewis and Charles, the probability significantly diminishes for them to win the drivers' world championship.
"So, I think that although it goes against my logic, there are too many variables coming up. So why would you ever do it? But I think that is the one and only strategy that they've got of Lewis winning this world championship.”
Toto Wolff warns Ferrari will challenge Mercedes for 'rest of the F1 season'
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Photo: Race Pictures
Meanwhile, Toto Wolff has said he expects Ferrari to challenge championship leaders Mercedes "for the rest of the season," after Leclerc's first win of 2026 at Silverstone last week.
Speaking to media, including GPblog, Wolff was asked whether he was surprised by Ferrari's performance, particularly given their weaknesses on straight-line speed and Silverstone's energy-starved nature.
He said: "Well, we need to look at ourselves. They said before the weekend that they're going to be lacking energy over this track. They haven't. They were a strong competitor and this is to be expected now for the rest of the season."
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | MercedesMER | 179 | |
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