James Hinchcliffe declares that Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's aspirations for the 2026 F1 championship are "finished."

During a discussion on the F1 Nation podcast, Hinchcliffe was queried about whether he believed Hamilton and the Maranello team were out of the title race.

"Yes, absolutely," he replied. "They'll have moments, they'll have races. I would love to see them clinch another grand prix or two before the season concludes, but you're looking at being over three grand prix worth of points behind, well four for Lewis."

As the championship slips from their grasp, Hinchcliffe proposed that Ferrari might benefit from redirecting its attention towards the 2027 season.

"It's finished. It's done. Now it's time to concentrate on '27," he continued. "They no longer have to feel the strain of maintaining a championship chase. They can approach each race weekend with perhaps a more experimental mindset regarding setups and the innovations they're bringing to the track in lieu of testing, right? 

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

"If this were 15 or 20 years ago, with a new set of regulations and drivers struggling to adapt, teams would be testing every week between grand prix events to catch up with the one team that had it figured out. 

"That kind of freedom isn't available now. Simulators have their limits. The only time you spend in the race car is when it counts during race weekends, which makes it challenging to use that time for experimentation and to take significant risks, whether in driving or setup alterations.

"When you're out of the championship contest, as Ferrari currently is, you can almost view these race weekends as testing opportunities."