Should we have high hopes for Hamilton and Ferrari? F1 Q&A

BBC Sport F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your questions before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Should we have high hopes for Hamilton and Ferrari? F1 Q&AImage source, PA MediaImage caption, Lewis Hamilton failed to finish on the podium in the 2025 season, the first time he has not had at least one top-three finish in 19 F1 seasonsPublished17 minutes ago4 CommentsThe 2026 Formula 1 season is nearly upon us and there are many questions to answer, following the biggest regulation change in the sport's history.The chassis, tyres and fuel are all subject to new regulations, and we will have to get used to new terms, such as overtake mode, boost mode and active aero.Last year's drivers' champion Lando Norris will be hoping that McLaren remain the dominant team, but Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all looked strong in pre-season.Before this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your questions.What can we expect from Ferrari this season? Is it possible to have high hopes for an eighth world championship for Lewis Hamilton? - LiamThere are two questions in one here, and the answer to one does not necessarily define the other.It's self-evident that Lewis Hamilton can only fight for the title if his car and team are up to it. Until the season starts, no-one knows for sure whether that's the case, but the signs in testing were positive.Most teams had the impression after six days in Bahrain that Mercedes and Ferrari were the teams to beat heading to the first race of the season.Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has been saying for some time that the first race will not define the season. He believes development will be significant enough that there will be a chance for the order to change through the year.Of course, that could be both true, as well as a not very subtle way of taking the pressure off if Ferrari do struggle in Australia.Even if the car is competitive, though, there have to be questions about Hamilton after his lacklustre performances in both 2024 with Mercedes and 2025 with Ferrari.He addressed his difficult 2025, and his many negative comments, in an Instagram post recently, saying he was "re-set and refreshed" and admitting: "For a moment, I forgot who I was."Can he recover his former level and take on Charles Leclerc if the car is competitive? Or has he simply lost a little of his edge as age - he is now 41 - has taken its toll?The answer to those questions remains to be written.Last season and before, Williams kept saying that their focus was on this year's car and the new regulations, yet they are late for testing and then turn up with an overweight car that is one of the slowest on track. How did they get the new regulations so wrong? - StewartGood question.Williams team principal James Vowles has been saying pretty much since he joined the team in early 2023 that this season was the team's chance to make a big step forward in their ambition to return to the top of F1.So, having finished fifth last year, ending testing with what appears to be the ninth fastest car was certainly not part of the plan.Williams have hit a number of issues. Their car build was delayed, and that meant they missed the first pre-season test in Barcelona.Even before then, there were rumours that the car was overweight. Vowles has not denied this is the case but has continually ducked giving a direct answer as to how much by.While most teams are struggling to get to the weight limit - McLaren have admitted they are not there yet, for example - it seems Williams are an extreme case.Why, is another good question. Certainly failing at least one of the mandatory impact tests and having to do remedial work to ensure they passed it will not have helped but won't explain everything.If the Williams is as heavy as rumoured - up to 20kg over the limit - that's 0.7 seconds of lap time right there. In a tight midfield battle, that's enough to make the difference between being at the front and at the back, where they look to be.Vowles says: "There are some bits of the car that are absolutely championship level. And there's other bits where we have a long way to go before we're there, including just getting the car built and finished as a polished article."You only know your boundaries by absolutely pushing every boundary possible. I absolutely believe in what I would call intelligent failure. And you get there by effectively pushing the boundaries of what you're doing. And what we did was exactly that this year."Vowles talks a good game, but after steady progress since he joined, albeit not without hiccups, this is his first major test.Media caption, The ‘rare combination’ behind Britain’s newest F1 driverInteresting reading about Arvid Lindblad and this might be a silly question but being 18, when did he pass his driving test? - LinNew Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad - the youngest British F1 driver in history - has not yet passed his driving test. You may have seen this video released by