Ferrari Explains Brake Failure That Ended Lewis Hamilton's Spanish GP

WHAT WENT WRONG

Ferrari has identified the cause of the brake failure that ended Lewis Hamilton's Spanish Grand Prix after just seven laps at Madring. The team traced the fault to the hydraulic section of the SF-26's brake-by-wire system, the same system that first gave Hamilton trouble braking for Turn 5 on the opening lap before briefly returning to normal.

"The pedal was long. We tried to fix it from the pit wall and then it happened again a couple of corners later," Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said. "Staying on track made no sense in a crazy race. We didn't want to take any risk."

HAMILTON'S SIDE OF IT

Hamilton had just been handed third place back by Max Verstappen, who had cut the first corner, when the brakes began to fail. He described the moment it went from bad to serious.

"It was really unexpected," Hamilton said. "I was braking for Turn 5 on the first lap and the car was stopping normally. Then the pedal took a step, and I ended up carrying loads of speed into the corner because it didn't stop as well. And then it came back fine in the next corner, and I thought we'd be fine. And then all of a sudden the pedal just went fully to the end, so I was lucky to make it round."

With almost every corner at the new Madrid circuit lined by walls, Ferrari opted not to gamble on the car holding together and called Hamilton into the pits to retire.

A STREAK ENDED

The retirement was Hamilton's first DNF in ten months and ended a run in which he had completed every racing lap of the 2026 season up to that point. He said he believed Ferrari had genuine pace to fight for the win before the failure struck.

"I think the team's done an amazing job, so I'm sad for them today that they couldn't get max points," Hamilton said. "I think we had the car to fight for a win today, and unfortunately it just didn't work out."

Vasseur was more measured about where Ferrari actually stood in the pecking order, pointing to how difficult overtaking was at the new venue. "When you see the pace of Charles, you can imagine that we had the pace to fight with everybody," he said. "It's more a matter of track position. Honestly, it was mega difficult to overtake today."

WHAT'S NEXT

Ferrari has not said whether the fault requires a redesign of the affected component or a one-off fix before Formula 1's next round. For Hamilton, the retirement is a rare blot on an otherwise consistent season, and how Ferrari responds technically will matter more than the result itself heading into the remaining races.