Before the first race of the season in Australia the weekend, Hamilton said he has “rediscovered” himself after a difficult first season at Ferrari last year.
Amid a series of poor performances in 2025, Hamilton made a series of negative comments about his own performances, including that he was “useless” and was “not looking forward” .
He said he spent the winter cultivating a “positive mental attitude”.
“The break was really positive,” he said. “It was my surroundings. It was the people that I was with. It’s not my first rodeo. So it’s understanding how to flip things. And it’s not that easy to do each time.
“But I always talk about cultivating a positive mental attitude. And that’s what I focus on the winter doing.
“A lot of it came from training. Training hard on Christmas Day. Also knowing that I find it hard.
“I believe in myself that I’ve put more work in than anyone around me. And I believe in myself. Rediscovering myself was really a big part of it as well.
“As I said in one of my [Instagram] posts, I kind of lost sight for a second of who I was. And that person’s gone. You won’t see that person again.”
Hamilton said he felt more settled with Ferrari after a season’s experience of the “very different culture” at the team from what he knew at Mercedes and McLaren.
“It’s massively different to the first year,” he said. “And it’s a much nicer feeling coming, having spent a year with the team, understanding the culture, understanding ways, finding ways of working together.
“We’re in a good place now together as a team. And I feel very gelled with the team today. I’m much happier.”
Ferrari failed to win a race in 2025 but are optimistic they start this season in a more competitive position as F1 introduces its biggest regulation change in history.
Hamilton said: “We’re leaving behind the bad and taking the head, moving forward with the good. We’re sharp, prepared and we know what we need to do.
“But we also know there are massive challenges for all of us with the new rules and regulations.”
Team-mate Charles Leclerc said: I prefer to be in a position where we have to calm the expectations down rather than having to manage a lot of negativity around the team. That’s always a bit of a better situation to be in.
“But in both ways I don’t think that this is something that needs to change our own mood inside the team.”