Hamilton and Ferrari accused of 'letting themselves down' in 2026 title fight

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer has said Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari have "let themselves down" in their bid to catch Mercedes' championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the 2026 title race. Amid reliability woes for the Silver Arrows, Palmer believes Hamilton and his team have made too many "sloppy mistakes" in recent races. F1 returns to action this weekend at the iconic Zandvoort Circuit for the very last time, with Hamilton currently sitting P2 in the Drivers' standings, 50 points behind Antonelli, while the Scuderia trail Mercedes by 72 points in the Constructors'. The German team have looked favourites for the title since the start of 2026, especially after a five-race win streak from Antonelli at the start of the campaign. However, reliability issues for Mercedes have since seen five different race winners in the five races prior to F1's summer break, including Hamilton's maiden Ferrari win in Barcelona. Palmer highlights 'sloppy' Hamilton mistakes Photo: Race Pictures Photo: Race Pictures For Palmer though, Ferrari have not made enough of the opportunities presented to them in recent races, highlighting "sloppy" mistakes that have cost them points, such as Hamilton's impeding of Oscar Piastri in Hungarian GP Qualifying, which saw him drop three places from P2 for the race, as well as his five-second penalty during the race for pit lane speeding. Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Palmer said: “I’m just a little bit disappointed in them in recent races because I think they’ve just been given this chance with some reliability woes for Kimi. You know, the front wing or the wheel cover stuff in Silverstone was a really lucky strike for Ferrari. They were going to lose that race and they ended up coming through, taking a big dent out of Kimi’s lead.” “And then they go and get all these penalties. So you’ve got a jump start for Lewis in Silverstone just because he moved his hand too quick. That’s pretty sloppy. “You’ve got him unlatching the pit lane speed limiter a fraction early in Hungary. It’s hard to argue that’s not pretty sloppy. You’ve got the bigger one of all of them actually, probably being the impeding penalty in Hungary. My word, that’s so sloppy. “Those three penalties may cost them just some points, obviously, but a little bit of momentum and a little bit of that pressure on Kimi. So, they have to cut those out.” Hamilton's incredible turnaround makes recent errors all the more frustrating Photo: Race Pictures Photo: Race Pictures Palmer, however, does praise Hamilton's remarkable turnaround from a dire debut season with Ferrari in 2025, when Hamilton went podium-less for the first time in his 19-year F1 career. This year, under new regulations, Hamilton has looked the most likely to mount a challenge to Antonelli's title lead, 50 points behind the Italian, and currently nine points ahead of former Mercedes teammate George Russell. Hamilton's current Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc is 31 points behind the Briton in P4. “I think he’s driving brilliantly," Palmer added. "I think the fact that he’s even matching or ahead of Charles on pace a lot of the time shows what a great turnaround it’s been. “It’s really difficult to compare to his glory years at Mercedes. The competition’s so different. The environment is so different. I think we are seeing some of the best that he’s ever done.” But that will also make recent errors all the more frustrating for Hamilton and Ferrari, Palmer believes, adding that the "silly" mistakes are nothing to do with skill, and have "let themselves down" in recent races. “Actually, his driving level is exceptionally high right now. He’s really risen to these regs and the opportunity that’s there for him. But then these mistakes, they’re not really to do with skill. That’s the silly thing.” “It’s kind of a lack of concentration or, I don’t know, attention or something in him and race engineer. And they’ve just let themselves down.” “And if Ferrari want to win this championship, we mentioned team orders before and the fact that they would need to maximise every point, they are a long way from doing that in the last few races.”