Lewis Hamilton elaborated on his love-hate relationship with the Ferrari simulator after the Canadian GP. The Brit had complained about the tool just one Grand Prix earlier, in Miami, explaining how the sim ‘sent him in the wrong direction’ during that race weekend. For the race in Montreal, Hamilton therefore skipped the simulator, which earned him his best race result of the season. ‘It’s a tool that can be powerful,’ the world champion explains. ‘But I’m old school and probably better off without it.’
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Already during the Miami GP, Lewis Hamilton declared he would no longer use Ferrari’s simulator. According to the Brit, his simulator work ahead of the American Grand Prix had ‘really put him on the wrong track.’ Hamilton therefore decided to approach his preparation differently for the Canadian GP and left the simulator in Maranello aside. The Brit then drove his best race of the season in Montreal, where he finished second.
The Ferrari driver retracted his earlier promise not to use the simulator after the Canadian race. “I’m sure that at some point I will drive in the simulator again. It would also help Ferrari to make a comparison between this weekend in Canada and driving in the simulator, so we can find out exactly what can be improved,” Hamilton told the media in Montreal.
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According to Hamilton, he and teammate Charles Leclerc are the only two at Ferrari who can really make the comparison between the simulator and racing on the track. “The test driver can’t do that because they are not allowed to drive themselves,” the world champion continued. “Only Charles and I are allowed to drive the car. The positive thing about being able to drive in the real car is that you can go back to the simulator and say: ‘This is how it feels in real life. These are the things we’re missing,’ so we can improve it.”
‘Old school’
For the British world champion, helping his team develop the simulator further is also the only reason to get back behind the wheel of the racing simulator this way. “I’m always ready to help the team move forward and develop it further. Whether I use it to prepare for another race? Probably not. In almost all my championship wins, except maybe in 2008, I didn’t use the sim, so it’s not a necessity. It’s a tool that can be powerful. But I’m old school and probably better off without it.”
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