Lewis Hamilton: “We kept changing the car, making it worse”. Lewis Hamilton reflects on Ferrari’s setup struggles.

Lewis is at his second Sprint event of the season and arrives after his win in China:

“That was the only time we didn’t make changes to the base setup after the free practice session, whereas we usually make many adjustments. What’s not working? A lot of different things, but I’m working hard to adapt to this situation.”
Trying to break through Hamilton’s media armor is nearly impossible. In the media activities he attended ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, he seemed very distant from the Lewis seen at the start of the season—brief, curt answers, the typical tone of someone who’d rather be anywhere else.

Understandable, as we’re talking about the most successful driver in Formula 1 history being asked questions usually posed to rookies. One thing is clear: the motivation is there, and it seems so strong that he cannot accept the current situation he’s been dealing with in recent weeks.

“I don’t care about the opinions of people who have no idea what’s really going on, people who’ve never been in my position. I keep my head down and appreciate the work I’m doing with the people around me.”

“What’s not working? Many things, many different things. There isn’t just one. When I first joined Mercedes, the first six months were tough because I had to get used to working with new people. The engineers I work with now are used to setting up a car for a different driver and a different driving style, while I’m used to driving a car that requires a different approach. So it’s a combination of a lot of things, but I’m definitely working hard to adapt to the situation.”

Lewis returns to Miami and the sprint format—the one that gave him his first victory in red in Shanghai.

“Before the Sprint race, you can’t make many changes (to the base setup). In China, going from FP1 to qualifying, we didn’t make many changes, maybe none, whereas on all the other weekends we kept changing the car, making it worse.”

“How will this weekend go? I have no idea, we’ll do our best. We don’t have any updates, but we’re still trying to optimize the car, and we’ve worked hard on the simulator. Charles did a great job in the last race and showed what the car is capable of—our goal is to try and replicate that.”

Lewis Hamilton found his smile again answering a specific question about his first few weeks in Italy.

“I like it. I try to stay away from pizza and pasta, but honestly with little success—last week I ate three pizzas in two days. I have a ‘contact’, I text him at the end of the day and say, ‘Hey, can I get a pizza?’, and it always arrives.”

“Right now, I’m not living much in Italy, but it’s something I want to try during the year. My Italian isn’t progressing much, so I’ll need to work harder. But going back to the team, I have to say a huge amount of work was done from my first days at the factory to fix some things, like in the simulator, and everyone has been very helpful and supportive. I’ve really appreciated that.”