Lewis Hamilton has revealed he worked with an addition to his Ferrari engineering team to navigate the setbacks he encountered at the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix.
Having lined up in the pit lane in 18th place, Hamilton delivered a strong drive as an optimal switch to slicks enabled him to recover to seventh at Spa-Francorchamps.
But despite salvaging points, the Briton was made to rue his troubles earlier in the weekend denying him a chance to rival team-mate Charles Leclerc, who came third.
Hamilton’s prospects in the Sprint were dashed when an uncharacteristic spin resigned him to 18th on the grid, a result which wouldn’t remain his sole Q1 elimination.
The seven-time F1 champion’s latest struggle in his maiden season with Ferrari came on a weekend when the side introduced a long-awaited revised rear suspension.
That wasn’t the standalone change that Hamilton had to contend with, though, as he divulged post-race that there had also been a new presence in the Ferrari garage.
Hamilton didn’t expand on who the person in question is or the post they have been assigned, but he did imply that it was someone he worked alongside at Mercedes.
“It’s not easy to switch engineers within the middle of a season,” Hamilton told media including Motorsport Week.
“But it’s someone that I’ve known for years that’s actually on my team, my previous team with me, but not in that position.
“So we’re getting used to each other and having to learn super, super quick.
“I think the changes that we had really brought both of us out. But I think we did a great job overnight. And we’re just getting stronger and stronger today.”
The new Ferrari part Hamilton is adapting to
Hamilton pinned his spin under braking into the Bus Stop chicane in Sprint Qualifying to a new part that he said also contributed to Leclerc’s practice crash in Canada.
But while he conceded the altered brake behaviour caught him out, Hamilton believes it provided a step in the right direction once the component had been optimised.
“Obviously with the upgrade that we have, there’s basically two elements to it,” he elaborated.
“One of those elements, we had it to test back in Montreal, but I didn’t end up testing it. Charles did. He ended up using part of it for a couple of races.
“So he definitely did a great job today. He’s feeling more comfortable and acclimatised.
“For me, it was the first time using it and that spin we had caught me out because I didn’t expect it.
“Also [the] change of engineer, we’re both in the deep end basically. I think we did a really good job overnight to rectify some of those tweaks and fine-tune it.
“The car was so much better to drive today. So I had a lot of fun trying to make my way through.”
Hamilton poised to start next race in better place
Hamilton is hopeful that the improvements that he discovered during the weekend will ensure that he starts the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend with a better baseline.
“I think this one is definitely one to put behind me,” he expressed. “I definitely feel confident going forward.
“I learned more about the car today, fine-tuned it. I’ll set that up better for next week.
“I will be at the factory on Wednesday. So yeah, I don’t see why we can’t have better results moving forward.”
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton slams FIA for ‘overreacting’ to Silverstone with F1 Belgian GP delay
