Lewis Hamilton issues update on where he is ‘still not 100% confident’ with Ferrari
After a difficult year, Hamilton feels he is getting to grips with the Ferrari car.
Lewis Hamilton may have made progress with getting to grips with the Ferrari car, but he said he is “still not 100% confident” under braking.
Switching from a Mercedes to Ferrari was going to be a challenge even for a driver as experienced as Hamilton but the seven-time World Champion has taken longer than many expected.
Lewis Hamilton gives Ferrari update with ‘not 100% confident’ admission
Hamilton and Ferrari blamed setup choices on Saturday for their low qualifying position of P12, before he recovered to eighth in the grand prix.
But even if it was a disappointing result, the 40-year-old could at least take confidence from his ability to perform in the car.
“I think there’s still some improvements to make in terms of how aggressive I can be,” he said in Baku. “The car has been quite snappy, so still not 100% confident under braking when I’m attacking on the brakes.
“In the last race, I was but in this race, didn’t feel it so much with the setup that we ended up having.”
Hamilton also said it has been “crazy” how he has felt like the team has progressed and yet the results do not reflect that. The Ferrari driver has finished no higher than sixth in the last five races.
“It’s kind of crazy, because we’ve been progressing yet we’ve not had results, really in the last few races.
“But there’s not like no progress so I think we’re able to do a good weekend and a good result.”
Hamilton’s most memorable moment of the race came at the very end when he failed to slow down enough and allow teammate Charles Leclerc to pass. Ferrari had instructed Hamilton to do so having done the reverse earlier in the race but he said he misjudged it in the moment.
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Leclerc though sought to play down any tension, saying who finished eighth or ninth was not important.
“I think it was very clear, but I really don’t care for an eighth place at the end,” Leclerc said.
“I don’t think that this should be the talking point.
“Unfortunately, we have been very slow all weekend, and that’s where we should focus on. P8 or P9, or P9 or P8, is not something that really interests me, so it’s fine.
“I mean, there are rules that we know we’ve got to work with, and today, maybe those rules were not respected.
“But again, I mean, P8/P9, P9/P8, that’s small.”
Hamilton is sixth in the standings after 17 races.
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