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Lewis Hamilton has faced a challenging couple of years in the sport, struggling to compete for his record eighth world championship. Although he has finally started winning races again in 2024, breaking a 945-day win drought, he remains far from being able to challenge for the title.
The struggles of the last two seasons have led Hamilton to reflect on his weaknesses. In a candid admission, he blamed himself for failing to adjust his driving style to suit the unique demands of the current F1 cars.
However, according to F1 journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm, these cars have “anti-Hamilton characteristics” that have made it difficult for the seven-time champion to perform at his best. The Briton, known for his ability to brake late and carry more speed into corners, has found that the current cars do not respond well to this style.
Instead, they require a different approach, with earlier braking and a more fluid, U-shaped cornering technique, which Hamilton has described as something he “hates”.
“Slow corners are generally where the real lap time gains are to be found and by driving to his maximum in these corners Hamilton’s been producing plenty of wow moments for almost two decades,” Scott explained in a YouTube video by The Race.
“The current cars are the biggest and heaviest F1’s ever had and everything about them; the aero, the weight, the mechanical platform, and the tires have essentially exacerbated some anti-Hamilton characteristics,” he added.
Mitchell-Malm thinks these characteristics have particularly affected Hamilton in qualifying sessions, where he has struggled compared to his younger teammate, George Russell. This even led Hamilton to predict during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend that he might not outqualify Russell for the rest of the season. Although, since then, he has turned a corner in his performance.
Hamilton is finally starting to get the hang of the W15
Hamilton’s recent results suggest that he is finally beginning to adapt to the new car as he has managed to overtake Russell in the championship standings. He is also the only driver besides Max Verstappen to win more than one race in the 2024 season.
Hamilton, however, had acknowledged after his record ninth home win at Silverstone that he was too stubborn to try and adapt to these cars, saying, “Ultimately, as drivers, you should be able to drive anything, and I think we can.
“In certain situations, some drivers are able to deal with things better than others, and it takes some people a short time, others longer, to adapt.”
It will be interesting to see how he manages to adapt to the Ferrari in 2025 if he is to ever challenge for that elusive eighth title.
