Lewis Hamilton’s start to life as a Ferrari driver has been mixed, summed up by his exploits in China, where he won the Sprint race but saw his car disqualified in the Grand Prix
Ferrari have given Lewis Hamilton a unique upgrade ahead of Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix. Hamilton, 40, has gone through an up and down start to life with Ferrari, having made the move from Mercedes at the beginning of this year.
The seven-time world champion won the Chinese Sprint race a fortnight ago but has only scored one point from this season’s opening two Grands Prix. Hamilton could only manage 10th place in Australia while he was sixth past the chequered flag in China before his car was disqualified due to a technical issue.
It’s been two weeks since the last race, giving Ferrari’s mechanics more time to work on his SF-25 car. Hamilton has already called a meeting with his new race engineer, Riccardo Adami, to outline how much information he wants passed over from the pit wall during races, having had some ‘stroppy’ exchanges with Adami during the Australian Grand Prix.
And now Hamilton has asked for his steering wheel to include more information like it did when he drove for Mercedes. Motorsport previously revealed how Hamilton’s wheel had been given a new lever for the clutch and gear shift.
A new report explains how Ferrari have tried to replicate the automation seen on Hamilton’s steering wheel at Mercedes. They’ve used a specially developed software to implement the change which hasn’t been given to team-mate Charles Leclerc, who’s been with the team since 2019 and prefers to have less data on his screen.
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Hamilton’s steering wheel features information such engine mappings. The upper left of the screen now has an indicator of the SOC (hybrid management) and the ENG (engine map) to ensure that he’s always aware of which configuration is being used.
During his 12 years with Mercedes, the majority of the power unit information was linked to a single STRAT lever which was located in the lower part of the steering wheel. That was grouped together into three areas whereas at Ferrari, many of these elements were split, prompting Hamilton to ask for a simplified wheel.
Who’ll finish higher in Japan – Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc? Give us your prediction in the comments section.
The Brit will have his work cut out in Suzuka after qualifying in eighth place. Meanwhile, Leclerc will start from P4 behind McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, the early championship leader.
Four-in-a-row champion Max Verstappen secured his first pole of the season and has won the last three races in Japan. Hamilton bemoaned his efforts in qualifying and told Sky Sports: “Charles did an amazing lap today. For me, we went in different directions with the setup. I had a lot of understeer and couldn’t dial it out throughout qualifying.
“Obviously not good enough from my side, P8 is not great. I was happy to get into Q3, really tight battle out there with everyone. I just didn’t get great laps in Q3.”
There could, however, be a literal silver lining in the clouds for Hamilton, with 40 per cent chance of ‘moderate showers’ forecast during the race. “I’m excited, I love I generally love the rain,” he added.
“It’s going to be tricky, but usually when you have a qualifying like I’ve just had, you hope for rain. So I hope that it stays.”
The Japanese Grand Prix begins at 6am UK time on Sunday.
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