Lewis Hamilton’s 20th Year in F1

Twenty years in Formula 1 is a staggeringly long time.

In most sports, two decades at the top would make you a relic, a veteran, perhaps even a slightly grumpy statesman muttering about how things were done properly in the old days. In Formula 1, where careers can be brutally short and reputations can rise and fall in a single season, it is even more remarkable.

And yet here we are. In 2026, Lewis Hamilton is contesting his 20th Formula 1 season.

That in itself is a milestone worth pausing for. Not just because longevity at this level is rare, but because Hamilton has spent those two decades doing rather more than simply making up the numbers. He arrived in 2007 with McLaren and finished on the podium on his debut in Australia. Since then, he has gone on to win seven world championships, more Grand Prix than any driver in history, and more pole positions than anyone else as well.

Plenty of drivers stay around for a long time. Very few remain relevant. Fewer still begin a 20th season with genuine reason to believe there may still be another big chapter to write. That is what makes Hamilton’s 2026 campaign so interesting.

This is not a farewell tour. It is not a ceremonial lap of honour. It is the start of his second season with Ferrari, and, perhaps more importantly, the first in a brand new technical era. In Formula 1, a regulation reset is often the closest thing the sport gets to shuffling the deck. Old hierarchies wobble, new contenders emerge, and the cleverest teams can suddenly look inspired. Hamilton, now in red rather than silver, begins this season hoping the new rules might provide exactly the sort of reset that makes one more title challenge possible.

The opening evidence from Melbourne was, if not perfect, at least encouraging.

Hamilton finished fourth in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, directly behind his team-mate Charles Leclerc in third, as Ferrari emerged as Mercedes’ closest challenger on race day. George Russell took the win, with Kimi Antonelli making it a Mercedes one-two, but Ferrari were firmly in the conversation. Hamilton himself sounded upbeat afterwards, describing the race as “really fun” and saying he wished it had gone on longer, particularly after he came home only a fraction behind Leclerc. It was not the fairy-tale victory some romantics might have hoped for, but it did feel like a competitive beginning rather than a damage-limitation exercise.

A week later in China, the picture became even more interesting.

At the Shanghai International Circuit Hamilton climbed onto the podium with third place, finishing behind the Mercedes pair of George Russell and a victorious Kimi Antonelli. Just as memorable as the result, though, was the racing between the two Ferraris. Hamilton and Leclerc spent much of the race pushing each other hard, trading places and running wheel-to-wheel in a long, clean battle that both drivers later said they thoroughly enjoyed.

It was the sort of contest Formula 1 used to be known for – fast, respectful and fiercely competitive – and it served as a reminder of something that has always been central to Hamilton’s career. Even after twenty seasons, he still relishes the racing itself.

Running through that longevity has been his ability to reinvent the narrative around him. He arrived as the precocious rookie. Then came the world champion. Then the dominant Mercedes era. Then the elder statesman chasing an eighth title. Now comes another version of Hamilton: the 41-year-old Ferrari driver beginning season number 20 with enough pedigree, enough determination and, crucially, enough machinery to make the paddock keep watching.

There is also something rather fitting about the fact that his 20th year begins where his first one began: in Australia, at the same venue where he announced himself to Formula 1 in 2007. Back then he was the astonishing newcomer. Now he is the established giant of the sport, still here, still fast, and still central to the story. The details have changed. The significance has not.

Of course, a 24-race season is far too long for grand conclusions after a couple of weekends. Mercedes have struck first. Ferrari look competitive but not yet complete. Japan, Bahrain and the usual early-season reshuffle will begin to reveal who has truly interpreted these new regulations best. But there is already enough to say this: Hamilton’s 20th season does not feel like an exercise in nostalgia. It feels alive.

Perhaps that is the most impressive part of all. In a sport obsessed with youth, succession plans and the next big thing, Lewis Hamilton has reached year 20 without becoming irrelevant. He remains one of Formula 1’s main characters. He is still one of its benchmarks. And he is still chasing something enormous.

Not bad, really, for a man entering his third decade on the grid.