Famend Method 1 journalist Peter Windsor believes Lewis Hamilton is not braking as used to up to now.
Hamilton’s high-profile transfer to Ferrari has been underwhelming thus far, together with his ends in the opening 5 rounds of the season leaving a lot to be desired.
The seven-time F1 world champion has struggled to adapt to the Ferrari SF-25 after spending the final 12 years at Mercedes, together with his deficit to teammate Charles Leclerc widening with virtually each passing race.
One of many key areas of efficiency in trendy grand prix equipment is braking, which then has a knock-on impact on cornering.
Hamilton raced with Carbon Industrie brake discs throughout his time at Mercedes, however he has needed to adapt to Brembo’s braking system at Ferrari in 2025.
Nevertheless, Windsor doesn’t imagine a change of provider is the basis reason for Hamilton’s latest struggles, as an alternative pointing to a change in driving model for the Briton.
“He’s so used to the Carbon Industrie’s brakes and he has gone to Brembo, which generally are a softer pedal really feel than the Carbon Industrie,” Windsor mentioned on his podcast.
“Lewis has been round lengthy sufficient. If someone had mentioned to me that do you assume he would have an issue getting used to the Brembos, I’d have mentioned he’ll love the Brembo. It is gonna give him a beautiful smooth really feel.
“Clearly he feels that it is a part of the difficulty. However I do not assume he’s braking the best way he used to brake when he was at McLaren in 2007.
“I believe he’s braking rather more in a straight line and he’s simply searching for nice retardation and he isn’t squeezing the brakes out and in of the brake pedal as he used to with the Carbon Industrie so nicely. So it is extra difficult than the provider.
Hamilton has been praised up to now for his ‘brief nook’ abilities, which generally require taking a narrower line to chop the gap concerned.
Nevertheless, Windsor feels the Briton wasn’t in a position to make use of this skill to its greatest after the introduction of ground-effect vehicles in 2022, with a shift to Ferrari this 12 months additionally failing to yield desired outcomes.
“He was a brief nook driver identical to Charles [Leclerc],” Windsor defined. “Even going again to 5 years in the past the three greatest drivers on the planet have been Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
“The issue is Lewis has not been driving with brief corners within the final three years at Mercedes and he has taken that lack of really feel to Ferrari now, to my astonishment.
“I assumed that at Ferrari he would instantly return into the Lewis we knew till 2021, earlier than Mercedes received actually dangerous, however he hasn’t and he’s nonetheless driving the identical means.
“What you noticed on the lap-by-lap comparability, Lewis was making an attempt to get the facility on as quickly as doable and searching on the wall and making an attempt to get the slide virtually to the purpose the place he’s touching the wall however simply to be excellent and doing the identical on entry as nicely, making an attempt to get as near the wall at entry, get as broad an method as you probably can.
“Charles goes for brief corners, manipulating the automotive mid-corner on the rotation level. By the point he has performed the rotation completely, he’s already wanting on the actual level which is the dimensions of a 50p coin.
“Whereas with Lewis it is extra [and] harder now as a result of he has received to evaluate the facility he’s placing on in opposition to what he’s doing on the entrance and rear axles, to the purpose the place he’s making an attempt to hit the wall however not fairly and it is rather more troublesome factor and it is rather more susceptible to error.
“On the age of 40, he’s leaving a little bit of margin as a result of he is considering it extra. Aged 20 he would not have been eager about it and he’d simply do it.”
