Lewis Hamilton is tied with Michael Schumacher for the most wins at this circuit, six apiece. Today he starts second on the grid in a Ferrari, at the track where Schumacher won his first race for the team in 1996, launching a decade of dominance in red.
All six of Hamilton's wins here came at Mercedes: 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021. Schumacher's six were split between his Benetton years and Ferrari, five of them in red. The first of those five came in 1996. A wet race, and Schumacher won by a margin that still puts it near the top of any greatest-F1-drives list.
Ferrari own eight wins at this circuit, more than any other team. Their last came in 2013, when Fernando Alonso crossed the line first. In the twelve years since, wins here have gone to Mercedes, Red Bull, and McLaren. Ferrari haven't been back.
Hamilton qualified second, 0.064 seconds behind pole-sitter George Russell. Russell said after qualifying that he believed Hamilton could have taken pole. Third on the grid is Kimi Antonelli, the 19-year-old who inherited Hamilton's seat at Mercedes when he made the move to Ferrari. Antonelli is in Hamilton's old car, with Hamilton's former race engineer in his ear, five wins from the first six races of 2026, and a 66-point championship lead.
Fifteen races remain, putting 375 championship points still on the table. Hamilton needs to outscore Antonelli by roughly 4.5 points per race across the rest of the season. He needs wins, starting here.
Hamilton called 2025 the worst year of his career. No top-3 finishes all season, the first time since his 2007 debut. The 2026 car was built under entirely new technical rules, with Hamilton central to its development. He took his first Ferrari podium in China in March, then finished second in Canada and Monaco in consecutive races.
In 35 years of F1 at this circuit, only three times has the race been won from outside the front row. Hamilton starts from the front row, one position back from pole.
Win today and he becomes the outright record holder at this track, seven wins to Schumacher's six, doing it in Ferrari red. On the same circuit where Schumacher put on that suit for the first time in 1996 and set the tone for everything that followed.
Schumacher built this record at Ferrari. Hamilton matched it at Mercedes. The tiebreak happens today, on the circuit where it all started.
Ready for the fight, send good vibes