Hamilton's Ferrari Questions and Wolff's Rosberg Regret Frame the Austin Build-Up

Lewis Hamilton’s brother Nicolas has spoken publicly about their relationship and how the seven-time champion has handled his move to Ferrari. His comments add to the scrutiny of Hamilton’s second season in red before Sunday’s United States Grand Prix in Austin. Elsewhere, Toto Wolff has accepted responsibility for how Mercedes managed Hamilton and Nico Rosberg a decade ago, and Mercedes and Ferrari will both bring new parts to Texas as the season enters its final six rounds.

The honest conversation Hamilton and Ferrari are being urged to have

The noise around Hamilton has grown since Singapore. In comments reported by GPfans, Nicolas Hamilton discussed how his brother has coped with the switch to Maranello. On RacingNews365’s preview podcast, the panel argued that Hamilton and Ferrari now need an honest discussion about where things stand.

Context matters here, because the raw numbers do not describe a driver in freefall. Hamilton is third in the drivers’ championship on 229 points, nine behind George Russell and 14 ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc. He has won a Grand Prix this year, a clear improvement on a debut Ferrari season that produced no Grand Prix victory.

The concern lies in how his weekends have finished rather than in the overall tally. In Singapore, Hamilton started third and finished sixth. Andrea Kimi Antonelli and both McLarens passed him, while Leclerc converted second on the grid into second at the flag. At Marina Bay, where track position is everything, losing three places from the front of the grid is costly.

Whose feedback shapes the 2027 Ferrari

The useful discussion is less about Hamilton’s commitment and more about direction. With the 2027 cars evolving from this year’s rules rather than replacing them, the development choices Ferrari make now will shape next season. A team whose two drivers are separated by 14 points has to decide whose feedback guides the car, or how to build one that suits both. That conversation is probably overdue, but it is a normal one for a team in Ferrari’s position. Recasting it as a crisis does neither party any favours.

There is also a championship subplot. Russell (238), Hamilton (229), Max Verstappen (221) and Leclerc (215) are separated by 23 points in the fight for second. For Hamilton, finishing as runner-up in his second Ferrari season would be a credible return, and it is entirely within reach.

Wolff’s Rosberg regret, read through Antonelli and Russell

Wolff told RacingNews365 that he would like to turn back the clock on his handling of the Hamilton-Rosberg rivalry, and he took the blame for what he now sees as micromanagement. It is a notable admission. The three seasons from 2014 to 2016 produced the defining intra-team feud of the hybrid era: contact at Spa in 2014, the first-lap collision in Barcelona in 2016 and the last-lap clash in Austria later that year. Each incident tightened Mercedes’ rules of engagement. Rosberg won the 2016 title and retired within days.

Wolff’s regret is relevant now because Mercedes are again running a title-winning car with two drivers capable of winning in it. Antonelli leads the championship on 340 points with eight wins, and Russell is second on 238 with three. Between them they have won 11 of the 17 Grands Prix.

The situation is less tense than in 2016, mainly because of the margin. A 102-point lead with six rounds left gives Antonelli a substantial cushion. With 150 points available from Grand Prix results alone, Russell would need a sharp shift in form, and a few lucky breaks would not be enough. The management task is also different. Mercedes do not need to referee a straight fight; they need to protect Antonelli’s lead without compromising Russell’s own fight for second. Russell’s recovery from 19th to ninth in Singapore showed his speed when a weekend falls apart.

The lesson Wolff appears to have taken is that rules imposed from the pit wall can create the very resentment they are meant to prevent. Letting two drivers race, with clear limits rather than constant intervention, is the approach he now seems to favour. It is easier to apply when the points table has already done most of the work.

Horner’s alternative history

Christian Horner has added a footnote of his own. In his new book, the former Red Bull team principal claims Mercedes wanted to sign him before they appointed Wolff in 2013. Memoirs are by nature one-sided, and the claim is Horner’s account rather than established fact. Still, it is an intriguing alternative history. The operation Mercedes built under Wolff dominated the hybrid era, while Horner’s Red Bull became its main rival. One appointment shaped more than a decade of the sport.

Front wings and fresh parts turn Austin into an upgrade weekend

Mercedes have confirmed a new front wing for the Circuit of the Americas. GPfans framed the upgrade as a response to recent difficulties, although “difficulties” is relative for a team with 11 wins. In Singapore, though, neither car finished in the top two. Verstappen won from pole, and for once Mercedes left a weekend beaten.

A front wing is a significant part to change. It conditions the airflow over everything behind it, and under the 2026 rules its movable elements also affect how the car switches between its cornering and straight-line settings. Austin is a good place to test it. The circuit combines fast changes of direction through the opening sector with a long back straight and heavy braking zones, so it covers most aerodynamic demands in a single lap.

Ferrari are also bringing new parts. RacingNews365’s technical analyst Paolo Filisetti has examined the team’s plans, which are aimed at finding an edge over their rivals. The standings explain the motive. Ferrari are second in the constructors’ championship on 444 points, 134 behind Mercedes and 105 clear of McLaren. Second place looks secure, and the title looks out of reach. The return on this upgrade will come from race wins in the final six rounds and from what it teaches the team before 2027.

The closer constructors’ battle is further down. McLaren (339) lead Red Bull (332) by seven points in the fight for third. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished fourth and fifth in Singapore, while Verstappen’s win and Isack Hadjar’s point from 22nd on the grid kept Red Bull within range. Whichever team gets the most from Austin could hold the advantage for the rest of the season.

Honda’s driveability setback

Honda’s news was less encouraging. Honda Racing Corporation president Koji Watanabe has acknowledged, in comments reported by Motorsport.com, that the manufacturer’s latest power unit upgrade brought driveability back close to the level of its troubled first specification. The upgrade came through the FIA’s ADUO mechanism, which gives manufacturers that fall behind the benchmark extra opportunities to develop.

Driveability matters more under the 2026 rules. With electrical power providing a far larger share of total output, and with harvesting and deployment now central to every lap, how smoothly torque reaches the rear wheels largely decides how hard a driver can push on corner exit. An engine that gains performance in one area but becomes harder to manage on the throttle can easily lose more lap time than it gains.

The results show the effect at Aston Martin, Honda’s works partner. The team has seven points and sits 10th in the constructors’ championship. In Singapore, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll started 20th and 21st. Alonso finished 16th, a lap down, and Stroll retired. For both Honda and Aston Martin, the rest of 2026 is now effectively a development programme for 2027, and Watanabe’s openness at least suggests the problem has been properly identified.

Marina Bay’s overtaking problem

Hamilton and Verstappen have both called for changes to the Marina Bay Street Circuit, arguing that a longer straight or a proper hairpin would make Singapore a much better racing venue. That the criticism comes from both the race winner and a driver who lost places gives it extra weight.

The front of the Singapore order supported their argument. Verstappen and Leclerc finished first and second, exactly as they started, and every driver in the top six started in the top six. The rest of the field was more mixed. Russell climbed 10 places and Hadjar 12, while Arvid Lindblad dropped from ninth on the grid to 15th. Moving through the midfield is possible with strategy and patience; attacking a well-placed car of similar pace is very difficult.

The circuit has already been altered once. The 2023 revision removed the slow sequence beneath the grandstand and replaced it with a straight, and the drivers’ comments suggest that change did not go far enough. Their proposal follows a well-established formula: a tight, slow corner leading onto a long straight is one of the most reliable ways to create overtaking chances.

The difficulty is practical. Street circuits are limited by city infrastructure, and the race’s appeal to its promoters rests heavily on the night-time setting rather than the quality of the racing. Change will be slow. Even so, when the sport’s most successful drivers make the same point, organisers would be wise to treat it as a request rather than a complaint.

Verstappen’s world beyond Red Bull

Verstappen’s Singapore win, his second of the season, leaves him fourth in the standings, 119 points behind Antonelli. His off-track interests made news again this week.

Chris Lulham, who races the Team Verstappen car in GT World Challenge Europe, received online abuse after a clash at Portimao and has responded publicly, Crash.net reports. However the incident itself is judged, abuse directed at a driver is unacceptable. The case also shows a downside of Verstappen’s profile. His name brings attention and sponsorship to his GT programme, but it also exposes his drivers to the more hostile parts of his online following.

Separately, Formula E’s chief executive has said the series would like to explore a partnership with Verstappen ahead of its first race in the Netherlands in 2027. The commercial logic is clear, since few figures would draw more attention to a Dutch event. Any involvement, however, seems far more likely to be promotional or ownership-based than behind the wheel. Verstappen’s racing outside Formula 1 has centred on GT and sim competition, and that seems unlikely to change.

Also in the Austin paddock

• The Gulf finale. RacingNews365 reports on the latest situation around the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix and links it to the approaching US elections. Losing either race would reduce the points still available, which could only help Antonelli.
• Haas go big at home. Haas will run a Godzilla-themed livery at COTA, their home race. The team sit seventh on 30 points after Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon finished 12th and 13th, both a lap down, in Singapore. Austin is a chance to turn that attention into points.
• McLaren’s heritage sale. McLaren are putting five race-used Formula 1 cars up for sale, including a car from the Ayrton Senna era. Collectors will watch the sale closely, and it will underline the value of the team’s history.
• Cadillac’s wait goes on. The newcomers are still without a point after 17 rounds. Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas finished 17th and 19th in Singapore, and a first top-10 finish remains the team’s realistic target for the rest of the season.
• Antonelli’s Austin opportunity. A strong weekend in Texas, particularly if Russell has a difficult one, would bring the 20-year-old very close to the title. He could arrive in Mexico needing only steady results to become champion in his second Formula 1 season.