The key Ferrari learning breakthrough Lewis Hamilton has made

Lewis Hamilton believes he has learned some key lessons about his Ferrari F1 car over the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.

The seven-time world champion’s mixed start to life at Ferrari continued in Bahrain as he bounced back from a disappointing ninth in qualifying to claim his best grand prix finish of the season with fifth place in Sunday’s race.

Aside from taking pole position and a victory in the China sprint race, Hamilton has struggled to match new teammate Charles Leclerc, who qualified third and came home fourth, nearly 10 seconds up the road.

But Hamilton ended the weekend on a positive note, revealing he now feels he has “figured out” how best to drive his Ferrari SF-25.

Lewis Hamilton driving style and set-up at Ferrari

Hamilton indicated he has made a breakthrough with his driving style, and also learned how best to set-up his Ferrari after plenty of experimenting across the first three races.

“Finally we were in a spot and my driving style seemed to be working in that moment and so learned a lot today and this weekend a lot, probably more than all the other weekends,” Hamilton explained.

“It’s clear the car really does require a different driving style and I think I'm finding more - slowly adjusting to that - and also set-up. I think I’ve been a bit all over the place a long way from Charles the past two weekends and then slowly migrating towards him,

“So, I think if I start the weekend with a more convenient spot and apply the techniques that I learned this weekend hopefully it'll be [better].”

Ferrari PU and braking system

One of the biggest challenges of Hamilton’s adaptation has been getting used to Ferrari’s power unit and braking systems.

For the first time in his F1 career, Hamilton is driving a car powered by a non-Mercedes engine.

The 40-year-old Briton is also adjusting to Brembo brakes after spending 12 years using Carbon Industries’ braking systems while at Mercedes.

“Sometimes I think we all get stuck in our ways and very stuck right now and I need to keep driving the way I’m driving and make the car come to me but it’s not working so I'm adjusting myself now to the car,” he said.

“Also the way with the tools… it just drives so much different with all the ECU controls that we have, we have to use them a lot different to what we did in the car.”

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Hamilton added: "I've moved to a new car, and it requires such a different driving style and settings. I'm using engine braking, which we never, ever used in my previous years.

“Much different brakes - I'm on Brembos now, and I've been on CIs for the last 15 years or so."

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur insisted it is no surprise that Hamilton is not fully up to speed with his new car yet.

“He won't replace 12 years of collaboration in two weeks or in two races, that means for sure we need to improve but this is true for every team in the paddock, our DNA is to try and do a better job,” Vasseur said.

“It's good to have Lewis with this mindset of 'OK I have to also improve myself, I need to adapt myself to the car'. We'll work on the car and adapt the car to Lewis but he also has to do a step. I think this between us is done in a positive and constructive way.

“We have to stay calm in terms of judgement of the performance because sometimes for almost nothing you can change a good weekend to a very poor one, and visa versa.

“It means I appreciated the direction of Lewis yesterday, I did my best to push him a little bit and today was in a very good shape and strong shape. Let's start from there next week and hope to do [better].”