Lewis Hamilton skeptical of Ferrari gains: “Nothing has changed in the simulator”. Lewis Hamilton downplays expectations for Ferrari ahead of the Spanish GP.

Since the beginning of the year, everyone has been waiting for the Spanish Grand Prix; not so much because it’s an especially exciting track, but due to the technical directive debuting here. The FIA has decided to limit the use of flexible wings by introducing stricter static tests, and since this morning delegates have been measuring the new components. No one knows how the balance of power will change (or rather, if they do, they haven’t said it openly), but everyone hopes their main rival will be penalised.

Most of the questions posed to the drivers during media day focused on the technical directive, but Lewis Hamilton was extremely vague on the matter. “The wings helped in a way that only the engineers can explain, and it’s not easy to find the downforce on the wing the way you want it, but it provides better front-end grip in high-speed corners. So far some have managed it better than others, and this weekend will be interesting due to the reduced flexibility. To be honest, I haven’t thought about it much, others have done it better than me. Certainly at the beginning the flexi wings were useful, and some teams adapted quickly, like Mercedes did last year,” the driver explained to the media, including us at Formula1.it. The Briton then responded to Toto Wolff’s comments, who had said that Ferrari would be the team to make the biggest step forward. “I don’t know where Toto’s words come from, I hope he’s right but I have no idea how things will change. I didn’t feel much of a difference in the simulator.” – the seven-time Formula 1 world champion pointed out during media day.

At the same time, Lewis Hamilton repeated several times that the real limitation of the SF-25 is qualifying. “In Monaco we made a step forward on Saturday, we can’t say we’ve solved everything. I hope to continue the progress of the past few weeks. Here the weather will be an important factor, even if our qualifying performances have been inconsistent both in hot and cold conditions. The issue is how we extract performance, but I hope that with harder tyres the management will be better.” – the British driver concluded ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, which will take place at the 4.657-kilometre Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday.