Lewis Hamilton rated his first half of the 2026 Formula 1 season as “slightly above average”, despite sitting second in the drivers’ standings at the summer shutdown. Hamilton said: "Slightly above average, maybe."
Carlos Sainz says he expects to start deciding his Williams future during the summer break. Sainz said: "I cannot give you a date, but I imagine, as I always said, that I was going to wait until the summer to sit down with my team and think about this, and discuss with them, with James and everyone, the future of the team and my future in it. I expect that during the summer we will start to take a decision and start to see a bit more of the situation, but the exact timing, I don't know."

Lando Norris says Kimi Antonelli has been the standout “complete package” of the first half of the season, after “convincingly” beating Mercedes team-mate George Russell. Norris said: “I think you have to say Kimi, as a complete package. They have a great car, and he's done an incredible job, convincingly beating his teammate every single weekend. So, when you're talking about a championship, you have to give credit to Kimi.”
George Russell says his work with a sports psychologist is focused on maximising his performance and managing the pressures of an F1 season, rather than being something he turns to only in difficult periods. Russell said: "I've been working with a sports psychologist since 2020. This was more to help me get the most out of myself - but also the people who I work with, how best to handle the pressures of a race weekend, or how best to handle my energy over the course of a season. It isn't necessarily to help in the really tough times."

Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord said grid penalties are “almost inevitable” for Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in the second half of the season because of how many power-unit components Mercedes has already used. Lord said: "Looking at how many we've used in the first half of the season, I think it's almost inevitable that, at some point, there will be penalties to take. But it's realistically going to be hard to get to the end of the season on the existing hardware that we've got. Kimi's on his fourth set of bits, so the next ones incur penalties, and George is on his third in the first half of the year. So yeah, the probabilities and the maths would suggest that both, at some point, will need to take a form of penalty; size to be determined!"
FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis says he wants Formula 1 cars to be “another 80 kilos lighter” in the next regulation overhaul, after the minimum weight was reduced to 768kg for 2026. Tombazis said: "Now, is that where I would like us to be? No. I would like us to be another 80 kilos lighter, and maybe still a bit shorter and a bit smaller in the future. That's the sort of target, that we do another big step from what was possible to do now."

Cadillac have replaced team principal Graeme Lowdon with former Alpine executive director Marcin Budkowski in a summer break leadership change, with Budkowski taking over from next weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix. CEO Dan Towriss insisted it was a planned transition rather than a response to Cadillac’s point-less debut campaign, saying: “As we enter this new era for the Cadillac Formula 1 Team, Marcin brings exceptional F1 experience… that will strengthen our organisation.” Budkowski said his priority is “maximising car development within the cost cap” and improving operational performance.


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