SPIELBERG, Austria — Lewis Hamilton revealed on Thursday that he suffered a serious neck injury during testing in 2025, knocking a disc out of place after hitting a wall.Following his win at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, the seven-time world champion hinted at an injury he suffered at that same track but didn’t elaborate on the details at the time.The Ferrari driver was asked about what happened during media day on Thursday ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, and he started his response noting how “it is private.”“I hit the wall very hard last year in testing,” Hamilton continued. “Knocked out one of the discs in my neck, which was into the nerve. So, I couldn’t do a lot for like nine weeks.”The 41-year-old said that he endured going to chiropractors and struggled with sleeping. It was an injury that the Briton said he carried “for months.”Last season was Hamilton’s first with Ferrari after his shock decision to leave Mercedes, and he struggled, with teammate Charles Leclerc outperforming him. Hamilton ended the season without a podium finish, for the first time ever in his F1 career.But his Barcelona win comes at a time when his career is surging back to his old form. The team is developing a more competitive package, the big and small details are coming together, and the people are meshing. Hamilton is just 41 points away from championship leader Kimi Antonelli, and it’s still early in the season. Ferrari has been consistently developing its car and has its first ADUO upgrade coming.“It’s just like every single person is something to the table, and everyone’s leveling up,” Hamilton said Thursday. “Everyone’s pushing that extra bit harder, maybe than they have before, and we’re working more cohesively, more tight-knit than ever before, with great leadership from Fred (Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal).“To see improvements coming that we’re asking for, to see them come to Barcelona and also here, they work incredibly hard to take a step with the engine. It’s not the whole step, but it’s one foot forward, and that’s what we’ve got to keep doing, just continue to put one foot in front of the other.”Hamilton recounted his thoughts in those final laps in Barcelona, saying he kept his fingers crossed on one hand “that the car was gonna finish,” given the sheer number of DNFs. He said, “I’ve had gate-box failures, I’ve had engine failures, I’ve had hydraulics, I’ve had battery, brake failure — all the things that can happen.”The Briton was only thinking about keeping the car on track and being careful with his decisions, like where he was braking and turning. He knew “that these points are so integral to the team getting higher up in the constructors.” But on that final lap, he wouldn’t let himself think of the victory. It wasn’t until that last corner that it sank in.“I’m nearly there, but you’re not there until you’re 50 meters past, 100 meters past the finish line. So every moment that that thought popped into my mind, I knocked it out,” Hamilton added. “And even when I came around Turn 12, I could see the crowd, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, no, you still got two corners to go.’“It’s not until I came around the last corner and I could see my team on the wall, and I was literally 50 meters, 100 meters past that I (thought), ‘The job is done.’”Jun 25, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms