Lewis Hamilton's extraordinary F1 turnaround explained
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How did Lewis Hamilton achieve his extraordinary F1 turnaround?
The race is on, and with a revitalised Lewis Hamilton still basking in the glory of his first Ferrari Grand Prix win, how did he turn it all around so spectacularly after last year's struggles? And what does it mean for his future and that of team-mate Charles Leclerc? I'm Ed Straw, and joining me to explain how it all happened are Mark Hughes and Scott Mitchell-Mowne. Well, Scott, the dust has settled on that Hamilton win, which was a huge story, so let's get straight into it. How do you see this new chapter in the Hamilton and Ferrari story playing out? Has he conclusively proved the doubters wrong?
He's certainly proven himself wrong, and I suspect quite a few doubters with it, because Lewis... has been quite honest along the way, to be fair to him, that he has had plenty of doubts. That goes back to his Mercedes struggles before the switch to Ferrari, the kind of mounting sense of concern and a bit of misery as that first Ferrari season went on. I don't think he was lower than after Hungary qualifying last year.
Was that when he called himself absolutely useless?
Basically, yeah. He said the team needs to consider replacing him or words to that effect. But he came close to reaching that basement a few times through the year in terms of how he talked about himself.
What changes did Hamilton push for within Ferrari?
And he admitted after Barcelona, didn't he, that there were moments, he said in the press conference, where he was thinking, oh, sheesh, they say that everybody loses it eventually. Maybe he had. That was his feeling. And we know that Hamilton, lives um lives very very closely to his emotions so when it's good it's great and when it's bad it's a disaster and his career is you know circling the drain so it was probably never quite as bad as he made out and therefore a lot of doubters wanted to make out as well likewise He's had a run of races now that are clearly the most convincing he has had since joining Ferrari, arguably since losing the 2021 title too. But the big question mark will always be, what kind of car will he have between now and the end of the season?
what kind of emotional wave will he be riding will it be a good one or a bad one because I think that will dictate a lot of not only his own performances but his mindset and kind of how he goes about things and those two things are very very closely linked for someone like Lewis yeah I think there's two components to that lack of confidence he was feeling last year there was the fact that
A, that generation of car that we've had since 2022, the ground effect cars we had until the end of last year, they just were unsuitable for the way he drives. And there was no getting around that. And his muscle memory was clearly not able to overcome that. to overcome that so that there was that but then as he transitioned to Ferrari he found that they developed a car which had systems that he absolutely hated so he's actually in a worse situation that he'd been in in some ways than at Mercedes because they developed a car around a lot of engine braking to get the rotation in the car and he doesn't drive it like that he has he hates engine braking and um So there was two components to it. So, yeah, of course, he was under delivering in that situation.
He got two fundamental pieces of the equation weren't there for him. But then that will create doubts when you're not doing the lab time.
How has Hamilton's performance compared to Charles Leclerc's?
You'll think, well, how much is that and how much is me? And I think he's had... fortuitous change of regulation to a more compliant car that's much more tolerant of his sort of very hard braking style. And he's pushed for changes. He was pushing for changes all through last year. And Freddy Vasseur has delivered them. And I think those things have come together. And you just saw his... confidence sort of progressively increasing until I think it was probably Montreal where it was really visible, where, you know, between the walls. And you thought, wow, yeah, this looks like something like Hamilton used to look. And then he's followed it up. And then, you know, the Barcelona win was from the top draw.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Lewis Hamilton achieve his extraordinary F1 turnaround?
0:02–1:31
2
What changes did Hamilton push for within Ferrari?
1:31–3:51
3
How has Hamilton's performance compared to Charles Leclerc's?
3:51–6:35
4
What factors contributed to Hamilton's recent success in F1?
6:35–9:36
5
What role does team culture play in Hamilton's performance?
9:36–12:54
6
How are Hamilton's and Leclerc's driving styles affecting their results?
12:54–16:45
7
What does Hamilton's Ferrari win mean for his legacy?
16:45–19:37
8
How does the current Ferrari team structure impact driver performance?
19:37–1:05:22
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Race F1 Podcast
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