Jenson Button drops make-or-break F1 prediction for Lewis Hamilton

Jenson Button believes 2026 will be a make-or-break season for Lewis Hamilton in F1.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton is enduring a difficult debut season with Ferrari since completing a blockbuster transfer from Mercedes over the winter.

Hamilton is yet to register a podium in 18 grands prix with Ferrari and his 2025 campaign has largely been littered with low moments, aside from an impressive pole position and victory in the China sprint race.

The 40-year-old Briton has made encouraging progress since the summer break and outqualified teammate Charles Leclerc for the first time since July’s British Grand Prix in Singapore.

However, the final results have not reflected Hamilton’s recent upward trend.

Button reckons his former McLaren teammate will either be back to his “best” in the new era of F1 regulations next year, or end up walking away from the sport.

“We’ve seen some brilliance through the year," 2009 world champion Button told Sky Sports F1 at the Singapore Grand Prix.

"I take it all the way back to the Shanghai sprint, which was very impressive. It’s not consistent enough through the year for him to have that confidence in the car.

"He doesn’t have his team of people around him like he’s had for many years, racing at Mercedes as a world champion. It does take a bit of time.

"With the new regulation change, which is massive for next year, that’s when we’re going to see either Lewis at his best, or a Lewis that’s maybe going to walk away.”

Lewis Hamilton urges Ferrari qualifying gains

After Ferrari once again flattered to deceive in Singapore after making a promising start to the weekend, Hamilton called on the team to improve their operational execution, particularly in qualifying.

"I feel for all of the team, from catering to marketing, the guys in the garage and engineers. They show up every weekend and they really do give everything," Hamilton said.

"It's just the car we have is unfortunately not of the level of the guys up ahead of us, particularly as we had some upgrades and can't match them.

"On the knife edge trying to get as close as we can. There was potential for us to be further ahead. In Qualifying, we are not extracting the full potential of the car. We didn't in the last race and didn't last weekend.

"There was potential to be third or fourth this weekend, if we had perfected the tyre performance and not queued at the end of the pit lane for example.

"In the race, we were on par with a couple of cars ahead of us. If we can get qualifying fixed, which is very hard, maybe we can get slightly better results but, ultimately, we are starting for fourth, fifth, sixth at best."