Story byMotorsport photoHaydn CobbSun, February 1, 2026 at 8:59 AM UTC·3 min readLewis Hamilton’s wealth of Formula 1 experience puts him in the best place to assess the new generation of cars – and he’s enjoying what he is driving so far. The seven-time F1 world champion is entering the fifth major regulations overhaul of his career and has often been vocal about which era of car he has preferred to race with, especially after a gruelling experience in the ground-effect period of 2022-25. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPerhaps this gives fuel to Hamilton’s positivity over the new generation of F1 cars which made their official track debuts at the Barcelona shakedown this week, where the British driver was on hand to test out Ferrari’s SF-26 following a filming day run at Fiorano after its launch last week. Hamilton, who unofficially set the fastest lap of the shakedown with a 1m16.348s and contributed to Ferrari’s total of 444 laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with team-mate Charles Leclerc, says the new F1 cars are more enjoyable to drive as they are more forgiving than the knife-edge stability that was a hallmark of the ground-effect cars. Read Also:AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement Barcelona F1 shakedown Day 5: Lewis Hamilton tops the timings for Ferrari “The car generation is actually a little bit more fun to drive,” Hamilton told F1 after the Barcelona shakedown. “It's oversteery and snappy and sliding, but it's a little bit easier to catch. I would definitely say more enjoyable.“But we definitely have work to do to improve, of course, like everybody does.