Lewis Hamilton’s first qualifying session in Ferrari ended with an eighth-place finish, more than eight-tenths off the top, something that the British driver realistically did not expect despite a Friday spent more on discovering the car than searching for pure performance.
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion still needs to get used to the SF-25, compared to Charles Leclerc, who, regardless of how the qualifying session went, had good feelings from the first laps in Melbourne. Indeed, by looking at the data, the Briton showed some more signs of struggling in medium-high-speed corners, like turns 6 and 9/10, compared to his Maranello teammate.
Lewis Hamilton described this weekend as a “great learning curve,” aided by a car that gave him different sensations compared to what he was used to in Mercedes. There are several areas where the British driver is still trying to get a full picture: Lewis Hamilton said after the qualifying session that the car’s balance ranged from braking to cornering, and that even the mechanical balance was very different from what he had experienced in the past.
Clearly, as the English driver accumulates more kilometers in this car, he will begin to understand what kind of aerodynamic and, especially, mechanical adjustments will be necessary to both adapt it to his needs and extract more potential from it. The former Mercedes driver mentioned that he still had a long way to go and there were many tools he had never tried, adding that it was something he was doing little by little.
During this initial phase of “learning,” Lewis Hamilton is relying heavily on the Maranello engineers’ guidance for certain adjustments, but as time goes on, he will start giving more input. He stated that they had done a good job in trying to progress the car, but when facing a problem, while one might know the direction to take, he didn’t yet know how to go about it. The Briton added that he relied a lot on his engineers, who had done a great job.
The Australian Grand Prix at the 5.278-kilometre Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne could be his first wet race with Ferrari and, like with other aspects, it is logical that even in this area, despite the seven-time Formula 1 world champion’s talent in the rain in the past, there is a sort of learning curve to face. In fact, so far, Lewis Hamilton has never had the chance to test the car in wet conditions.
This is something that actually applies to all teams, except for those who had the chance to run in the rain during filming days, like Haas, which ran with demo tires. The American team also ran with intermediates for some laps in pre-season testing at the Bahrain circuit, but it was only for data collection and to see how the different tire tread could affect the aerodynamic flows.
As with other drivers, Lewis Hamilton’s first race in the rain will be an unknown, but in his case, there are additional aspects to consider, especially related to certain characteristics of the car.
With his move to Ferrari, the English driver had to adapt to a different braking system, as his Mercedes used Carbon Industrie discs, while the Maranello team relied on Brembo solutions even in that area. At first glance, this might seem like a secondary detail, but for a driver, the connection with the braking system is crucial, as different systems can provide very different sensations and behaviors. While it is easier to get used to it in dry conditions by accumulating kilometers, there are few opportunities to drive consistently in the rain, so for Lewis Hamilton, as well as for other drivers who have changed teams – and disc suppliers – this season, like Esteban Ocon or Carlos Sainz, it will be a first time on the field.
Lewis Hamilton joked that he had never driven the car in the rain and didn’t even know where the switch for wet conditions was or which buttons he would need to use, referring to the fact that when switching from dry to wet tires or vice versa, the sensors must also be adjusted through switches on the steering wheel so that the system accounts for the different tire sizes.
The Ferrari driver added that, for example, the Maranello team’s technicians and engineers use Brembo brakes, which he had not used in a very long time, since he was much younger. He mentioned that he didn’t know how the Brembo brakes would behave in the rain, how they would respond, if there would be glazing, or what settings he would need to use with this car, noting that everything was very different.
What Lewis Hamilton is referring to is the fact that in wet or cold weather conditions, the brakes tend to operate in a different temperature range with a different grip on the disc. Sometimes the pedal can provide the driver with a different feeling, which can reduce confidence or, for example, make it easier to lock up during more challenging braking zones. Even in this area, there will be a learning curve for the Englishman that he will need to manage quickly.
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