Hamilton warns F1 drivers fear major Silverstone power deficit

Hamilton says drivers are braced for Silverstone power problem

Lewis Hamilton says Formula 1 drivers are collectively concerned about how slow the 2026 cars could feel at Silverstone, with the circuit’s high-speed layout exposing a major challenge for the new generation of power units.

Several teams have already conducted private running at the circuit this year, giving them an early indication of the problem. Max Verstappen also drew attention to it last week, saying he started “laughing” when driving Silverstone on Red Bull’s simulator.

‘The MGU-K will be switched off’

Hamilton said the subject has become a shared concern among the drivers. “It’s an unprecedented weekend in terms of the power deployment,” he said. “All us drivers have been talking on the drivers’ chat just how poor the power is going to be through this track.”

The Ferrari driver explained that the lack of braking-heavy sections leaves little scope to recover battery charge. “We run out of battery power there’s only a few corners to charge the engine. So the [MGU-]K will be switched off for a large portion of the lap.”

That would be a striking dynamic at a venue where momentum and sustained speed are normally central to lap time. If electrical deployment fades for a significant part of the lap, the performance picture could become unusually distorted.

Ferrari facing a sharper Silverstone test

Hamilton expects Ferrari to be particularly exposed by the track layout. “That’s where we will struggle probably the most,” he said. “The deficit could be twice as big.”

Although Hamilton won the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix three weeks ago, he played down his chances of claiming a record 10th Silverstone victory. He pointed to Ferrari’s straight-line losses as a limiting factor, saying: “We lose quite a lot of time, I think it’s like four tenths a lap we lose in a straight line. It’s hard to recover that through corners.”

Hamilton insisted Ferrari still has a strong base, but framed the British Grand Prix as damage limitation until the team can reduce its deficit. “I think we’ve got a great car fundamentally, we’ve just got to continue to work until maximise what we can and get the best results we can, score as many points as we can until we can close that deficit.”