Lewis Hamilton heads into the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix convinced that one decision made in recent weeks has had a direct impact on his performances on track. The seven-time Formula 1 world champion revealed that stepping away from Ferrari’s simulator has helped him rediscover his form, while also admitting the Scuderia arrives at Spa-Francorchamps with no clear picture of where the SF-26 will rank against its rivals.
According to Lewis Hamilton, he has not used the simulator since the Canadian Grand Prix, a choice he believes has marked a turning point in his performances. At the same time, the Ferrari driver remains cautious ahead of a weekend that could expose some of the SF-26’s weaknesses on one of the most demanding circuits on the Formula 1 calendar.
Lewis Hamilton: “My performances have improved without the simulator”
Asked whether he had returned to the simulator after the Canadian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton confirmed that he had not, explaining just how significant the decision has been for his recent form.
“No,” he replied when asked if he had used it again, adding that the decision had helped him “enormously.” The British driver went on to explain how his relationship with simulator work has evolved throughout his Formula 1 career.
“Last year I tried to use it all the time, but, as I’ve said before, during my early years at Mercedes I didn’t use it. Then, as it developed, there came a point when we stopped using it.”
Lewis Hamilton believes that, despite being an extremely advanced technological tool, a simulator can sometimes provide misleading feedback.
“I’ve been driving simulators since 1997, and they can be incredibly powerful and very useful tools, but they can also lead you in the wrong direction. I found that happened quite a lot last year, and in previous years at Mercedes it was a very similar situation. That’s why I decided to stop using it. Since I did, my performances have improved dramatically.”
Ferrari arrives at Spa without a clear benchmark: “We don’t know what to expect”
Looking ahead to the Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton admitted that Ferrari arrives in the Ardennes without a precise prediction of its true competitiveness. Spa-Francorchamps, with its long straights and high-speed sectors, makes it particularly difficult to estimate how the SF-26 will perform against the front-runners.
“It’s really difficult to make predictions for this circuit. There are so many long straights. At Silverstone we thought we would struggle a lot in terms of power, but the car was very quick through the corners and performed much better than we expected.”
For that reason, the seven-time world champion urged caution, while acknowledging that Ferrari’s deficit to the leading teams could be greater than it was at Silverstone.
“Once again, we’re arriving here without really knowing what to expect, other than the fact that this circuit has around 50% more straight-line running. I think at the last race the gap was around three or four tenths, so here we expect it could be a little bigger. But we’re doing everything we can.”
Lewis Hamilton’s comments underline that Ferrari is continuing to work hard to close the gap to the benchmark teams in Formula 1. Silverstone proved that expectations can quickly be overturned once the cars hit the track, but Spa-Francorchamps presents a very different challenge, where aerodynamic efficiency, hybrid energy management and top speed are expected to play an even greater role in determining the competitive order.
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