TREMAYNE: How Hamilton climbed out of a well of despair and rebooted himself in 2026
F1 Hall of Fame journalist David Tremayne looks at how Lewis Hamilton put a difficult year behind him and found his smile again this season.


If you’ve been looking out this season for that guy we saw in Hungary last year in the red Ferrari racesuit – the one with the hollow eyes and hangdog expression – forget it. As Lewis Hamilton indicated trenchantly in Australia, “that person’s gone, so you won’t see that person again.”
He looked (and sounded) very much like a different driver and his old familiar self.
Next Up
Related Articles
'Insane' – What the F1 drivers make of the new Madring
Verstappen assesses Friday performance at the Madring
How Verstappen and Lawson rate Red Bull's chances in Madrid
Russell tops FP1 as cars hit Madring for first time
UnlockedAll the stories that got the Madrid paddock talking
Formula 1's Spanish football connections
