Lewis Hamilton isn’t slowing down. Heading into his 20th Formula One season, he says he’s “still standing, still hungry, still focused on the dream", and he promises there’s “no holding back” this year.

He’s already the most decorated driver in F1 history, but Sunday’s season opener in Australia feels different. Last year, his first with Ferrari, didn’t go well. Charles Leclerc, his teammate, out-qualified and out-scored him. Hamilton didn’t make it onto the podium once, something that had never happened in his career. At one point, he even called himself “absolutely useless” and told Ferrari maybe they should find someone else to drive.

But things change. On Tuesday, Hamilton posted on Instagram, reflecting on what twenty seasons in F1 really means. “It started with a dream,” he wrote. “A dream some called ridiculous and said would never amount to anything. Despite that, the dream never changed, and I never stopped chasing it.”

He’s honest about the mistakes, the highs and lows, and the frustration that comes with it. “There will always be people who doubt you, people who try to block you, but you can’t ever stop fighting.” For Hamilton, the journey’s been messy, sometimes brutal, but he says the mistakes have made it sweeter.

He believes in taking charge of your own destiny, owning your spark, and not relying on outside validation. Sure, he’s had help along the way, but he insists that fire has to come from within. He’s grateful for the people who supported him and even for the doubters. They pushed him to keep going.

Now, after everything, he’s still here. Still hungry. Still chasing the same dream. And this season, he’s not holding anything back.

Hamilton’s quest for that record eighth world title depends on more than just his own determination. He needs Ferrari to deliver. The team struggled last year, but after a promising pre-season and some big changes to the sport’s rules, there’s a fresh sense of optimism.

Hamilton’s set to speak at the FIA news conference on Thursday, right before Sunday’s race at Albert Park. The countdown’s on, and he’s not backing down.

Zak Brown says McLaren’s drivers, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, can race each other freely, with no team orders holding them back this year, even though last year was a little different.

If you think back to lap 30 of the 2025 race, McLaren told Piastri to “hold position” behind Norris. People took that as a clear team order, but Brown pushes back on that idea. He says it wasn’t about stopping Oscar from attacking Lando at all.

Brown’s been pretty open about this. After some close calls in 2024, everyone wanted to know if McLaren would actually let their drivers fight it out in 2025. Turns out, they did. And Brown insists that’s their approach heading into 2026, too.

He explained it pretty simply: if the same thing happened again? They’d handle it the same way. “They were free to race,” Brown said. The weather was all over the place – maybe rain, maybe not. Oscar was catching up to Lando; the team had a solid lead, but nobody knew if they’d need to stick with those tyres. Half the track was wet, the other half was dry, and they were weaving through traffic.

So, the call was basically “pause for a second", not “stop racing", just “let’s see what happens". Conditions were tough, and honestly, both drivers ended up off track not long after. It was chaos out there.

Brown made it clear: letting your drivers race doesn’t mean you never ask them to take a beat and assess the situation. This wasn’t about pitting Lando against Oscar; it was about not risking both cars when the weather and track were unpredictable.

In the end, both Norris and Piastri slid off, but Piastri came out worse, losing grip and ending up in the grass.

Looking ahead, Brown thinks people need to understand what’s happening during a race before judging team orders. “We’ve explained this over and over. I get that, in the heat of the moment, people might get frustrated watching the broadcast. But once we’ve laid it out, it makes perfect sense,” he says.

The team just wanted to pause and see how things would shake out. Once things settled, they let the drivers race again exactly as promised. Brown reckons it’s a good reminder that sometimes, fans need a bit more context before jumping to conclusions about what’s really going on.