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Lewis Hamilton believes that all of the new F1 technical regulations have put "everyone on the back foot" heading into pre-season testing. Drivers and teams are hard at work deciphering the tricks and methods required to extract pace from the latest generation of open-wheel cars.

Hamilton experienced his first day of testing on Tuesday in a weather-affected session that saw Red Bull's Isack Hadjar find the barriers at Turn 14. The seven-time world champion notched 57 laps behind the wheel of the SF-26, while Charles Leclerc contributed 66 in his stint.

Speaking about his experience with the new cars, Hamilton was cautiously optimistic, predicting a big challenge as drivers and teams adapt to the demands of Grand Prix racing in 2026.

"I've had the privilege of being here for a long time, 19 years, so been through quite a lot of different cars," the 41-year-old explained. "So a lot of different swapovers, but this is the biggest one that I've noticed.

"I don't want to say too much about it just yet, because it's difficult to know. As I said, I've only driven it in the rain. I mean, it's a lot less downforce than we had last year, but we don't have the porpoising that we had last year, or at least in 2022 when we started it. So there's definitely positives.

"And it's massively challenging for everybody, for every team, which I think is great. It really puts everyone on the back foot. I mean, everyone's really going to kind of be on their toes and learning as you go.

"And whoever develops the fastest, whoever is the smartest in optimising the time and the energy deployment and development will be the ones at the top. And I think this gives everyone a chance to get to the top, which is good. And so we are just all hands on deck trying to make sure we maximise it."

Hamilton's predictions were echoed by team-mate Leclerc, who expressed his desire for Ferrari to return to the pinnacle of the sport. The Scuderia ended 2025 winless, slumping to fourth in the Constructors' Championship standings after finishing second the previous campaign.

"I'm very excited," Leclerc said. "I'm very excited to see what the others have in store and when we start pushing a bit more to see where we are compared to the others. I think this year is a big opportunity for every team to do something different and to maybe gain bigger advantage than what we've seen in the last few years.

"I hope we are the team that will manage to make the difference. But wherever we start, we will push at the maximum to try and bring Ferrari back to the top. It's been quite a few years, so I hope that this one is ours."