​Former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley has urged the team to prioritise Lewis Hamilton as their best chance to challenge Mercedes for the 2026 F1 title, arguing that Hamilton represents the Scuderia’s only real path to breaking their long title drought. Although Charles Leclerc secured victory at Silverstone last time out, Smedley contends that the Briton remains Ferrari’s strongest option for ending their wait for a championship since 2008. Hamilton kicked off the 2026 season with a strong run, taking his first Ferrari win in Barcelona after two runner-up finishes in Montreal and Monaco, while Leclerc finally answered back with a win at the British Grand Prix. Fortune seemed to lean toward the Monegasque on race day, with Kimi Antonelli suffering late damage and Max Verstappen’s Lap 48 crash triggering a critical Safety Car, yet Leclerc reminded the world that he can still match the seven-time world champion, who finished third.
Smedley, however, believes Ferrari already needs to start prioritising Hamilton, who sits third in the standings and sits just 32 points behind Antonelli’s championship lead after nine rounds. On the High Performance Racing podcast, when asked whether Ferrari could have swapped their cars during the British GP, Smedley—who spent nearly a decade at Ferrari from 2004 to 2013, most notably as Felipe Massa’s race engineer—said: “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 pace deficit against Mercedes and the on-track battles Hamilton and Leclerc have already fought this season—such as in China or Austria—Smedley argued that giving equal treatment to their driver pairing would “significantly diminish” their chances of winning the drivers’ title. Smedley, who was part of the Ferrari team when they last claimed the constructors’ crown in 2008, noted that while Kimi Raikkonen was the last Ferrari driver to win the drivers’ championship the year before, the team’s strategy should reflect a prioritisation that could tilt the odds in Hamilton’s favour. He added: “If they try to outpace Mercedes in car performance and then let the drivers race each other with a large gap between Lewis and Charles, the probability of winning the drivers’ world championship diminishes. So, despite going against my logic, there are too many variables at play. Why would you ever do it? But I believe that is the one and only strategy they’ve got for Lewis to win this world championship.”
Meanwhile, Toto Wolff has indicated he expects Ferrari to challenge Mercedes “for the rest of the season” following Leclerc’s Silverstone victory. Speaking to media, including GPblog, Wolff was asked whether he was surprised by Ferrari’s performance as they push for the championship, and he suggested that Ferrari’s challenge could endure beyond just a few races, underscoring a season-long contest between the two teams.