Palmer predicts Ferrari could field F1's fastest car before season ends

Lewis Hamilton’s commanding win at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix — his first for Ferrari — has prompted former Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer to predict that the Maranello outfit could be fielding the fastest car on the grid before the 2026 season concludes.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Palmer pointed to Ferrari’s visible development momentum and the team’s pending power unit upgrades as the key drivers of that optimism.

“The innovation on the car — you can see it from the start of the year. They’ve got ADUO, so they’ve got some power unit performance to bring,” Palmer said. “If they can get that sorted, they could have maybe the best car by the end of the year. There’s a lot to be positive about for Ferrari.”

The backdrop to Palmer’s assessment is a 2026 season that Mercedes dominated from the outset, winning each of the first six grands prix across Australia, China, Japan, Miami, Canada and Monaco. Ferrari ended that run in Barcelona, and Hamilton has since climbed to second in the drivers’ championship — 41 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli and nine clear of George Russell in third.

Hamilton himself has not closed the door on a title challenge, though he struck a measured tone when speaking to the media in Austria.

“I think the opportunity is there, but it’s one thing being there and it’s another thing galvanising the troops and developing,” Hamilton said. “You can hit plateaus in terms of development, so all we can do is take it one day at a time.”

The seven-time champion also confirmed that Ferrari will introduce a new engine in Austria, framing it as an incremental rather than transformative step. “It’s a step, not the whole gap, but it’s a step. It’s one foot forward, which I’m really proud and thankful for.”

Hamilton was candid about where the benchmark still sits. “Mercedes are the team to beat — they’ve won everything else and they’ve been just incredible,” he acknowledged, underlining that Ferrari’s progress, however encouraging, has not yet closed the gap to the dominant force of the early season.

With the development race intensifying and both Ferrari and Mercedes holding power unit upgrades in reserve, the second half of the 2026 campaign is shaping up as a genuine contest for outright pace — even if the championship arithmetic remains a steep climb for Hamilton.