Lewis Hamilton has denied that his one-lap trouble in the 2024 Formula 1 season has been “disastrous”, despite disclosing that he has attempted to adapt his driving.
Hamilton stands as the most decorated qualifier F1 has ever seen with a record 104 pole positions to his name, but he has struggled to live up to that tag this season.
Despite having shown an encouraging pace in practice on multiple occasions, Hamilton’s renowned single-lap prowess has tended to desert him when it has counted.
The Briton’s woes prompted him to declare in Monaco that he expected to be behind George Russell, who leads the head-to-head 10-4, across the remaining rounds.
Mercedes has attributed Hamilton’s issues to his attacking driving style not being conducive to both the current ground effect cars or the peakiness of the Pirelli tyres.
Hamilton has implied that he concurs with that assessment, as he revealed that he has sampled mixing up his approach in a bid to overcome his unexpected setback.
However, the seven-time champion has expressed that he has avoided going too extreme with his experiments to ensure that he retains his inherent driving strengths.
Asked how he has handed the newfound situation this season, Hamilton said: “I’m stubborn. And so, I keep trying to drive the way I want to drive.
“But then I realise it doesn’t always work and then I try to… kind of massage my way through. But it’s not working that well.
“Still to this point, I think ultimately as a driver, you have to be adaptive and you have to concede that sometimes your approaches to certain things aren’t perfect and you just start looking at ways in which you can still hold on to the essence of what’s made you as good as you’ve been and see how you can move the ball back…
“Ultimately, as drivers, you can’t drive anything. I mean, you can’t.
“So in certain situations, some drivers do things better than others and it takes some people a short time, others no longer, to adapt. But I wouldn’t say it’s disastrous.”
Hamilton’s troubles have not impacted him when it has come to the races, however, as he has capitalised on Mercedes’ improvements to notch two wins this season.
Ferrari’s Frederic Vasseur, who will be Hamilton’s boss in 2025, has pinpointed Hamilton’s 34-point gap over Russell as proof that his problems have been overblown.
“Everyone has been saying since the beginning that Russell is faster than Hamilton, but at the moment he is the one who has scored more points for Mercedes,” he told Sky Italy.
“In terms of efficiency, I think he’s a good benchmark.
“We know the positive aspects of Lewis’ arrival at Ferrari. For example, his great experience in Formula 1.”
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