Why is Lewis Hamilton struggling at Ferrari? F1 veteran reveals technical details
F1 veteran Rob Smedley feels that Lewis Hamilton's struggles are down to the fact that the Ferrari is a car that has a weak rear grip, which makes it harder for the driver to have confidence in the car in the fast-speed sections. The 7x F1 champion shocked the world last year when he announced that he would be leaving Mercedes at the end of the season.
The driver announced his move to Ferrari, making it an alliance of the most successful F1 driver with the most successful team. The start to life at the Italian team has, however, not been the best for Lewis Hamilton. The driver has had good results in sprints, but the Grand Prix section of the race weekend has not been as kind.
Charles Leclerc has only once been bested in a qualifying session by teammate Lewis Hamilton, and he's yet to finish behind his illustrious stablemate in any of the races. Even in the points standings, there is a decent gap between the two drivers of 12 points.
You add all of it, and you have Lewis Hamilton, who is struggling to leave his mark on the team for now. Talking about the 7x F1 champion's struggles at Ferrari, Rob Smedley felt that the problem was more on the technical side of things, as car characteristics were what was hurting the driver. He told the F1 Nation Podcast,
“The car is not that easy to drive. It certainly doesn’t suit Lewis’ driving style. Charles can get a bit more on top of it over a single timed lap. When you have a high-speed turn-in in a medium-high speed corner, you need a really solid rear."
He added,
“We have seen in the past that when Lewis doesn’t have that [rear end stability] that he can lean on, [he struggles]. If the car is a bit tail-happy he is unhappy and he can’t get the best out of it. That’s just his driving style.”
On Ferrari to improve the car and help Lewis Hamilton
Rob Smedley felt that it came down to Ferrari to improve the car and make it better. The car quite clearly lacks performance, and that is what the team has to work on. Smedley also emphasized that the margins are quite small in F1 at the moment, and if the team can find 2-3 tenths with their upgrades, it could be a night and day difference from where they are right now. He said,
“I do think that there is just a general lack of performance. It will be tiny, tiny margins. It will not be one thing that can do that car that suddenly becomes the silver bullet. There will be just a series of things they have got to do. They are in this position at the moment. They are where they are."
He added,
“This is where you see their true mettle. Can they work their way out of it? Can they find more performance? If they can find more general performance – both qualifying and the race – you are talking about two-three tenths. It will put them in a significantly stronger position. These are the margins that they got to find now.”
The bad news, however, for both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc is that Ferrari would not be bringing any upgrades to Imola this weekend, and the drivers would have to wait for a few races before they could expect improvements to the car.