Hamilton credits fans with 'rescuing' him after Ferrari's podium-less 2025 season

Lewis Hamilton says the fans who urged him not to forget who he was during a miserable 2025 season played a decisive role in his recovery, crediting them with “rescuing” him ahead of his first victory with Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

“I really feel like my fans really rescued me last year,” Hamilton said after ending a near two-year winless run in Formula 1. “My family also, and friends that stuck with me through it all.”

Hamilton’s maiden campaign with the Scuderia was the first in his almost two-decade F1 career without a podium finish, a stark contrast to the expectations that accompanied his high-profile move from Mercedes. He acknowledged hearing plenty of criticism throughout that period but said he chose to channel it rather than be consumed by it.

“I think for the people that say the negative stuff, I often use that as fuel,” he said. “I think it’s easy to be negative about people, and I think the ones that are worse is when it’s a driver that knows how hard it is in this field to do a job, and today they don’t even have the success that I have, and they talk negatively.”

It was the encouragement from the grandstands, however, that left the deepest impression. “Last year, several of the fans were shouting to me, ‘don’t forget who you are’. And that really resonated with me, and I had to question how do I find myself again, how do I find my centre, how do I find the courage and the strength to keep going, to keep building, to keep trying.”

Hamilton also pointed to internal changes at Ferrari as part of his resurgence, noting adjustments to his race engineering setup and the team’s car development direction. “There’s still a lot of work to do,” he added, before reflecting on a long-held ambition finally realised. “I remember watching the red car and always wondering what it would be like to be winning in that car. And there’s nothing like it. It’s absolutely incredible.”

The Barcelona result has lifted Hamilton to second in the 2026 drivers’ championship, 41 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli — the man who replaced him at Mercedes. His former boss Toto Wolff is among those now viewing the seven-time world champion as a genuine title contender, though Hamilton himself is reluctant to look that far ahead given how the season began.