16/05/2025 21:00
Lewis Hamilton has decried the unpredictable nature of his Ferrari
and its brakes, saying it is a "lottery" to get a set that works.
It has been a running theme for the seven-time F1 drivers' champion
this season, who is now racing with Brembo brakes, not the Carbon
Industrie variety he became accustomed to at Mercedes. The British
driver started his Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend well, going
fifth fastest in the opening free practice session, but struggled
in the second hour of running, when he was only quick enough for
P11. Explaining the drop-off in performance between the two
sessions, the 40-year-old revealed he made two small, seemingly
insignificant changes to his SF-25. However, they appear to have
had far-reaching ramifications for his brakes. "FP1 was good,"
Hamilton said. "I was really, really happy with the car. Felt like
we had made a step forward, and it was feeling really positive. "I
literally changed the two tiniest things, that shouldn't have had
barely any effect at all, the smallest change I've probably ever
done this year, and we had some brake issues [in FP2] that then
made a massive difference. "And so that was then just a fight with
that. That's been a problem... that's been quite a big issue all
year, actually. I've never experienced that before, that's a new
thing for me this year." Although, Hamilton maintained it is not
user error or part of him adapting to using a different brake
manufacturer. "It's not the transition, it's the performance," the
105-time grand prix winner insisted. When asked if the situation
was fixable overnight, ahead of FP3 and qualifying at Imola, the
Ferrari driver said the team would "roll the dice" on the issue
again. "It's a lottery. We'll roll the dice. You put one on and it
works, you put another on and it doesn't, then we'll see," he
added, laughing. "So I hope tomorrow we figure something out. We're
working on it."
