Hamilton reveals the F1 change he’d love to see

Lewis Hamilton has a soft spot for Formula 1 after dark, and the seven-time world champion believes the sport could make greater use of the floodlights to transform the experience at more venues on the calendar.

The Ferrari driver has seen the championship’s nocturnal spectacle expand considerably since the Singapore Grand Prix became F1’s first night race in 2008.

But Hamilton’s enthusiasm for the concept goes beyond the visual appeal, with extreme temperatures and the comfort of spectators providing compelling arguments for moving more events away from the heat of the afternoon sun.

The Briton has revealed that his own experience in Bahrain helped plant the seed of that idea long before the desert circuit made its successful transition to night racing.

Hamilton recalled the origins of Singapore’s night-time experiment during the recent Marina Bay weekend, remembering how he first encountered the concept while driving for McLaren.

"I love the night races. I remember when this one was being brought on, and we did the test on the simulator back in the day when I was at McLaren," he recalled.

"It did obviously an amazing job with the lighting, and then we've had that at other places.

“I remember speaking with [Crown Prince] Salman, and we were testing and running in Bahrain in the middle of the hottest day ever, and the tyres and whole cars were melting.

"I said: 'This place will look epic at night', and then years later, they ended up doing a night race there."

Improving the fans’ comfort

Indeed, Bahrain duly made the switch in 2014, a decade after joining the championship as a daytime event.

Its inaugural race had already demonstrated the punishing conditions teams could face in the desert, while the 2005 edition became notorious for its blistering heat, with temperatures reaching 42.8 degrees Celsius.

The change brought a striking new dimension to the event, combining the spectacle of a floodlit circuit with more manageable conditions than those encountered during the hottest part of the day.

Hamilton believes that logic deserves consideration elsewhere, particularly at venues where the local climate can make attending a race an endurance test in its own right.

"So I think in some places it works really well, particularly really extreme hot places, where if you're in the middle of the day, like in Qatar, it's probably going to be miserable for the fans, but also for everyone in the paddock,” he added.

"So some of the night races, I think, are really cool."

Could more circuits make the switch?

Night racing has become an increasingly prominent feature of F1’s modern identity. On the original 2026 calendar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi were all scheduled to host races under the lights, accounting for a quarter of the championship’s 24 events.

The cancellations of the Middle Eastern rounds amid the Iran war have, however, disrupted that line-up, leaving Singapore and Las Vegas among the scheduled night-race destinations still set to go ahead.

For Hamilton, the appeal is not limited to circuits already associated with darkness. The British driver also sees potential in venues whose surroundings and atmosphere could take on a different character after sunset.

Madrid, which recently joined the championship’s expanding portfolio of venues, caught his imagination in that regard.

"We were just in Madrid, and it's beautiful during the day,” he said. “I was like: 'This could also be cool at night, and many of the tracks could be.'

"So who knows? Maybe having the option to switch between that over time would be a cool development for tracks."

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Hamilton’s suggestion opens an intriguing possibility: circuits could retain their daytime identity while occasionally experimenting with an evening spectacle.

Such a move would inevitably involve practical considerations, including the cost of installing lighting, local regulations and the demands of television schedules.

Yet where extreme heat is a concern, the benefits could extend beyond the aesthetics.

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