Lewis Hamilton talks about his time at F1 simulator which he doesn’t likes, as he adds on knowing about upcoming upgrades from Mercedes.
With the competitive season in display, the rarest of things has happened, with Hamilton having simulator time in order to find out where he and Mercedes’ season has gone slightly flat. It is the first time in a very long time that the team have not won in four races and the first time in a while too for the British racer too.
It is certainly a sign of the times for the Brackley outfit. Around the wins, they have still picked up three podiums in the last four races. But compared to what has happened up until four races ago, this is the most challenging period in Mercedes’ history during the Hybrid era as it is for Hamilton also.
But for Hamilton taking to the simulator – which he doesn’t likes – would show the seriousness from him and also the team to find solutions before Red Bull gets too far ahead. Over the previous years, it is something that has rarely occurred.
“I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed it,” joked Hamilton, when asked about his latest simulator run before this weekend’s Austrian GP. “Particularly after those few difficult races we had, I just went in to try and see if there’s any way I could try and help the team just be better prepared. There’s been a couple of good things from it, but not life changing.
“I’ll continue to work with them, we’ve got drivers on there that do a lot of work, I think just working on the processes of how we communicate with them on their programme, so we’re getting the right things tested. Overall, it’s been positive,” summed up Hamilton. Mercedes currently have Esteban Gutierrez, Stoffel Vandoorne, Nyck de Vries and even Anthony Davidson on sim duty, whenever their schedule permits.
Further to this weekend, Mercedes have announced they are planning to bring aerodynamic and engine improvements (on reliability side) over the next few races in the hope that they can close the gap to Red Bull. Toto Wolff had said after last weeks race that there would be no further development on this year’s car.
However, James Allison advised it did not mean that there are upgrades on their way, with James Vowles further explaining their work. While Hamilton asked Mercedes for updates last weekend after the grand prix, the Brit said, he knew that there were some bits coming in on the car for a push.
“I mean, I knew we had that upgrade coming,” said Hamilton. “But at the end of the day, everyone is working absolutely flat out. We’re learning more and more about this car, we’re discovering where we need to push more and extract more, and I have all the confidence in the team that we will do over the course of time.”
Despite the supposed mini-crisis, Hamilton remains upbeat and philosophical. If anything, he is respectful of his rivals performances hitherto. “They’ve done obviously a great job in these last for races,” he said. “It’s been really difficult for us from Monaco, which was obviously a bit of a disaster, and then the same for Baku.
“It was better in France and last weekend, however they have taken a step ahead of us. So, we’re just working as hard as we can to see if we can close that gap. We’re not even halfway through the season. So I am still chasing this title,” summed up Hamilton.
It is not often for @LewisHamilton to do simulator sessions but after last week, he’s back on, in order to be ready for the #AustrianGP challenge. #F1 | @MsportXtra pic.twitter.com/ta1SvaUmdr
— Darshan Chokhani (@DarshanChokhani) June 30, 2021
The story was written by Neil Farrell
Here’s explanation from James Vowles
Here’s all on Mercedes and Red Bull on the upgrades
Here’s Lewis Hamilton on some insights where Mercedes are lacking