Yesterday at 11:05
Lewis Hamilton has struggled to adapt to life at Ferrari during the
first half of the season, leading him to submit in-depth documents
to the engineers. The notes cover many areas, including working
methods, communication between departments, and race weekend
execution, which he believes need to be altered going forward. It
also refers to technical factors, closely linked to the car and its
preparation, which Hamilton has been trying to modify since the
start of the season to tailor it to his needs. The first change
concerned his driving position, and more specifically, the pedals,
which had to be adapted to his braking style. This was a successful
modification in terms of hardware, but it was nevertheless a
complex factor for Ferrari to consider. Complications arose through
the engine braking, something that Hamilton never had to utilise
during his successful stint at Mercedes. While it is something that
can be modified in terms of calibration, it is a factor that is a
specific characteristic of the engine and therefore likely
underestimated in Hamilton's adaptation. Article continues below
the image. Elsewhere, the precision of the front end when cornering
was one of the key focuses for Ferrari in the design stage of the
SF-25. The front-end geometry has effectively achieved its
precision goals at corner entry, but at the same time, it has
progressively caused the SF-25 to understeer on the more technical
sections of the track. This characteristic was often compensated
for, especially on Hamilton's car, with greater front-end load. But
this created another limitation with increased steering
sensitivity. Hamilton seemingly wished to work on this problem
further through different setups in the simulator, but found
himself limited in his choice of basic configurations ahead of race
weekends. It marked another hurdle as Hamilton was unable to fully
immerse himself in the changes to the car's behaviour when the
setup was modified. This would seem - at least in part - to be the
reason behind what we might call 'patchwork setup' choices.
Hamilton has progressively chosen configurations that, in theory,
would not be optimal in terms of the aerodynamic and dynamic
balance of the SF-25. It has since been confirmed that the
seven-time champion was seeking rear-end stability equal to that of
the front end. This sits as a substantial difference from the
consistency of setup choices from Leclerc. Ultimately, this is a
factor that can render data sharing within the pit virtually
useless, as there is no single interpretation of the choices made
by the two drivers. Looking ahead, if this makes it difficult for
Hamilton to get on top of the developments brought to the SF25,
which Leclerc speaks positively about, questions must be asked
about how Ferrari will tackle the construction of next year's car.
See the key areas Hamilton has struggled with at Ferrari below!
BLUE - Stable front end under braking and precise corner entry
achieved with very rigid geometry, which induces understeer in
certain sections YELLOW - Low steering sensitivity to feel the
car's grip limit. This is why Hamilton cannot perceive it
accurately through the SF-25's steering wheel GREEN – Hamilton
wants maximum rear stability when cornering, often using more
downforce than Leclerc
