Lewis Hamilton advised about “the big thing, for me” in Ferrari adaptation

Lewis Hamilton has been handed advice about a specific part of his adaptation to the Ferrari which requires more laps.

The headline-grabbing performances and results have not arrived on a Sunday for Lewis Hamilton since he donned the red overalls at the beginning of this year.

His qualifying form has been even worse, and has caused him to bemoan his own ability to extract performance from his new machinery.

But Sky Sports’ Bernie Collins, a former F1 race strategist, has identified a crucial aspect to his adaptation from Mercedes which requires him to drive more laps.

Lewis Hamilton told about 'instinct' in Ferrari

Collins analysed: “Lewis is getting used to this car, getting used to communication with the pit wall, getting used to how the car instinctively drives, how it performs in certain areas.

“The big for me is that the drivers have loads of switches at their disposal: brake balance, how to brake through the corner. There are lots of switches on that steering wheel.

“You need to know instinctively: ‘Okay, I’ve got a bit of tailwind, a bit of headwind, what do I need to change? What will the reaction be to the car?’

“That’s just getting laps on the board. It will take time for Lewis to get to a point of instinctively knowing how the Ferrari will perform.

“He’s not there yet.”

Martin Brundle has heard from inside Ferrari that they are not concerned by Hamilton’s seemingly slow progress.

Brundle said: “Ferrari used an analogy: ‘It’s like putting on somebody else’s pair of skis or ice skates’.

“It takes some time to get used to it. That’s how they feel about it.”

Hamilton briefly shot to the pinnacle of Formula 1 when he won the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix.

His first victory wearing red, albeit in the shorter format, did not lead to greater success. Even the rest of that weekend was downhill for Hamilton.

Brundle explained: “It was a different track, a sprint, a much shorter race with much less fuel on board.

“He got in front and stayed in front. It looked like vintage Lewis Hamilton.

“That’s how it seemed. We were thinking ‘wow he’s back in business, back in the game’.

“Sadly it has not turned out that way in the longer grand prix format.”