Lewis Hamilton braking theory tipped by F1 insider

Renowned Formula 1 journalist Peter Windsor believes Lewis Hamilton is no longer braking as used to in the past.

Hamilton’s high-profile move to Ferrari has been underwhelming so far, with his results in the opening five rounds of the season leaving much to be desired.

The seven-time F1 world champion has struggled to adapt to the Ferrari SF-25 after spending the last 12 years at Mercedes, with his deficit to teammate Charles Leclerc widening with almost every passing race.

One of the key areas of performance in modern grand prix machinery is braking, which then has a knock-on effect on cornering.

Hamilton raced with Carbon Industrie brake discs during his time at Mercedes, but he has had to adapt to Brembo's braking system at Ferrari in 2025.

However, Windsor doesn’t believe a change of supplier is the root cause of Hamilton’s recent struggles, instead pointing to a change in driving style for the Briton.

“He is so used to the Carbon Industrie’s brakes and he has gone to Brembo, which typically are a softer pedal feel than the Carbon Industrie," Windsor said on his podcast.

“Lewis has been around long enough. If somebody had said to me that do you think he would have a problem getting used to the Brembos, I would have said he will love the Brembo. It's gonna give him a lovely soft feel.

“Obviously he feels that it's part of the issue. But I don't think he is braking the way he used to brake when he was at McLaren in 2007.

“I think he is braking much more in a straight line and he is just looking for great retardation and he is not squeezing the brakes in and out of the brake pedal as he used to with the Carbon Industrie so well. So it's more complicated than the supplier.

Hamilton has been praised in the past for his ‘short corner’ skills, which typically require taking a narrower line to cut the distance involved.

However, Windsor feels the Briton wasn’t able to use this ability to its best after the introduction of ground-effect cars in 2022, with a shift to Ferrari this year also failing to yield desired results.

“He was a short corner driver just like Charles [Leclerc],” Windsor explained. “Even going back to five years ago the three best drivers in the world were Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.

“The problem is Lewis has not been driving with short corners in the last three years at Mercedes and he has taken that lack of feel to Ferrari now, to my astonishment.

“I thought that at Ferrari he would immediately go back into the Lewis we knew until 2021, before Mercedes got really bad, but he hasn't and he is still driving the same way.

“What you saw on the lap-by-lap comparison, Lewis was trying to get the power on as soon as possible and looking at the wall and trying to get the slide almost to the point where he is touching the wall but just to be perfect and doing the same on entry as well, trying to get as close to the wall at entry, get as wide an approach as you possibly can.

“Charles is going for short corners, manipulating the car mid-corner at the rotation point. By the time he has done the rotation perfectly, he is already looking at the exact point which is the size of a 50p coin.

“Whereas with Lewis it's more [and] more difficult now because he has got to judge the power he is putting on against what he is doing on the front and rear axles, to the point where he is trying to hit the wall but not quite and it's much more difficult thing and it's much more prone to error.

“At the age of 40, he is leaving a bit of margin because he is thinking about it more. Aged 20 he wouldn't have been thinking about it and he'd just do it.”