Lewis Hamilton acknowledged that his chances of clinching the 2026 Formula One title were effectively over after he retired from the Spanish Grand Prix last Sunday, and he now sits 101 points behind the leader, Kimi Antonelli.
While he was running in fourth place, the seven-time World Champion encountered trouble as early as the seventh lap at Madring. “I have no brakes, guys,” he radioed to Carlo Sainz, before being instructed to pull the car into the pits.
Not only that, at the start of the race he became involved in an incident with Max Verstappen, with the Dutchman being ordered to relinquish the position, which he did in a less than ideal manner on lap four, but almost immediately reclaimed the place.
Then, after the Spain retirement, Hamilton was asked whether Antonelli is “hard to stop.” The 41-year-old driver told Sky Sports that “I don’t think there’s any way to stop him and Mercedes this year; they have done a phenomenal job and deserve that.”
Afterwards, Hamilton explained the problem he faced at Madring on the season-opening F1 race on the circuit. “I pressed the brake, the car started to slow and then the pedal gave way. The car didn’t slow down as quickly as it normally would, so I ended up entering the turn with too much speed. Then, yeah, I scraped the barrier; after that the pedal returned to normal and everything was fine, but I think a few corners later the pedal went too far down. I don’t know exactly what happened.”
