Legendary former F1 chief Ross Brawn believes a "vintage" Lewis Hamilton can still emerge at Ferrari in 2026 if the team's competitiveness improves.

Brawn, as technical director, spent 10 seasons at the famous Italian team from 1997-2006 during a period in which Ferrari enjoyed stunning title-winning success with Michael Schumacher.

Brawn was later team principal at Mercedes when they signed Hamilton in 2013, with the latter going on to re-write the record books himself at the Silver Arrows.

Hamilton opted for a new adventure when he signed for Ferrari but his first season at the Scuderia proved disappointing and saw him fail to record a podium finish for the first time in his career as he was soundly beaten by team-mate Charles Leclerc.

The 41-year-old, who will have a new race engineer this season, is preparing to return for his second campaign in motorsport's most-famous red with Ferrari launching their 2026 car in Italy on Friday.

"I think we'd all love for him to be successful," Brawn told Sky Sports News at the Autosport Awards.

"I've got a special place for Ferrari; I've been there 10 years. I know how tough it is there.

"But it's always a fine line between a team gelling and not quite gelling, and it didn't quite gel last year.

"But if he gets some incentives and if he sees there's an opportunity, I think we'll see a vintage Lewis.

"So I'm hoping that happens."

After failing to win a Grand Prix and slumping to fourth in the Constructors' Championship last year as their world title drought extended beyond 17 years, Ferrari are collectively under pressure to adapt strongly to F1's radical new technical ruleset.

Asked if he felt that team boss Frederic Vasseur, poised to start his fourth season in charge, was doing a good job in the circumstances at F1's most-scrutinised outfit, Brawn said: "Yeah. What you don't see and you can't judge is the infrastructure behind Fred.

"The engineers, how well they're working. I don't know how that's all functioning, but I think it will be a measure of Fred this year how well they do."

The introduction of new regulations means there is a robust schedule of three separate testing events before the start of the 2026 season.

The first is a behind-closed-doors event in Barcelona from January 26-30, before two tests follow in Bahrain from February 11-13 and 18-20.

The teams then have two weeks to prepare for the opening round of the season, which is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne from March 6-8.

The first practice sessions of the season will take place on Friday 6 March, with Qualifying on Saturday 7 March and the opening race on Sunday 8 March.

Watch all 24 race weekends from the 2026 Formula 1 season live on Sky Sports F1, starting with the Australian Grand Prix on March 6-8. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - No contract, cancel anytime