Lewis Hamilton's Spanish Grand Prix race ended early, but the seven-time World Champion has something to say afterward.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton lined up P4 at the start of the 2026 F1 Spanish Grand Prix, having outqualified teammate Charles Leclerc on Saturday. But the former World Champion's race unraveled very early, suffering brake problems in the opening laps.
Ultimately, Hamilton had to retire from the race on Lap 7, which marks his first retirement of the season.
It was an unfortunate result for the British driver, who said that Ferrari had a "pretty decent car" at the new Madring circuit. Hamilton actually had provisional pole during the first runs of Q3 on Saturday, a testament to the genuine pace that Ferrari had this weekend.
What exactly happened to Hamilton's car before his retirement on Lap 7 of the Spanish GP? Let's quickly look back on how his race unraveled.
The "mickey-mouse racing" in the first lap
Hamilton was right behind the three frontrunners on the opening lap, found himself side-by-side with Verstappen into Turn 1, and seemed ahead of the latter at some point. The Ferrari driver wasn't able to overtake, but Red Bull race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase instructed Verstappen to give the place back to avoid a penalty.
As expected, Verstappen initially resisted, but eventually had to give up his position. When Hamilton encountered a race-ending brake failure a few laps later, Verstappen sarcastically expressed his frustration at the penalty-avoidance instruction, describing it as "mickey-mouse racing."
But Hamilton did not agree with that Verstappen remark. In his "honest" opinion, he thought that it was "pretty good racing."
Brake issues led to the early retirement
We thought that the brake issues stemmed from when Hamilton brushed the wall in the early laps. Apparently, the brakes were already failing him prior, which might have forced him to carry "a lot of speed" into the corner where he touched the wall.
Hamilton tried to carry on with the race, but the brakes became too unpredictably dangerous. He says that the pedal would normally function, and then it would "go long" after a while. Eventually, he had to retire the car on Lap 7, as he was already losing so much time.
Hamilton's championship hopes are looking bleak
Unfortunately for the multiple-time World Champion, the championship this season is getting farther away from him. With championship leader Kimi Antonelli winning the Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton is now trailing him by 101 points.
With the way Antonelli is performing and how consistent his Mercedes car is, the championship might be out of reach for Hamilton.
