Hamilton ditches Ferrari's simulator for two months and outscores the entire grid

Lewis Hamilton has gone two months without touching Ferrari’s Formula 1 simulator — and the results speak for themselves. Since abandoning the tool ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix in May, the seven-time world champion has outscored every driver on the grid, amassing 96 points compared to Kimi Antonelli’s 79, George Russell’s 74 and Charles Leclerc’s 49.

Hamilton’s decision stemmed from a belief that the simulator’s correlation with the actual car was not good enough to aid his preparation. Asked at Spa-Francorchamps whether he had returned to the sim since Canada, he gave a one-word answer: “No.” When pressed on the impact, he smiled and said simply: “Massively.”

“I tried all last year with it, but as I said, when I was at Mercedes for the first few years I didn’t use it,” Hamilton explained. “I’ve been driving simulators since 1997 and they can be really powerful and really useful tools, but they can also mislead you. I found all last year particularly that was the case. Since I stopped, my performance has gone much, much better.”

Hamilton was careful to contextualise the points gap, acknowledging that misfortune at Mercedes has contributed to his tally and that Leclerc has faced his own difficulties. Still, the personal turnaround since Montreal has been marked, and the Briton credits the change in preparation approach as a significant factor.

Looking ahead to the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, Hamilton was measured about Ferrari’s prospects against Mercedes. “On this track, it’s very difficult,” he said. “This track is lots and lots of straights. I think there still was a gap of maybe three or four tenths in the last race, so here we probably anticipate it will be a little bit more.”

Despite the power-unit deficit expected at a high-speed circuit like Spa, Hamilton expressed pride in the incremental development work being done at Ferrari. “I’m so proud of the team, they’re just continuing to push to optimise the car. We’re making fine adjustments every week, which is great to see, rather than one upgrade coming several months later — another one’s coming every weekend, just improving little bits whenever we find something.”