Lewis Hamilton critical of Ferrari F1 simulator for 'sending me in wrong direction'

Lewis Hamilton was critical of Ferrari's simulator following a tough Saturday at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, as he feels it "sends me in the wrong direction".

He made the comment after changes to the upgraded SF-26 over the Miami GP weekend improved the car relatively to the starting point, which would in effect have been guided by the sim.

Lewis Hamilton finished the Saturday sprint in a frustrated seventh place, and then having made changes for qualifying earned sixth, as team-mate Charles Leclerc took third in both.

“It was an improvement,” he said when asked about the qualifying session by Crash.net.

“We made lots of changes to the car, we didn't have software issues. So I think we progressed, we stepped forward. I think Q2 was feeling really solid, and then when I got to Q3 I just wasn't able to extract the maximum."

Asked about the potential to move forward in Sunday’s race he said: “I don't feel comfortable in P6, that's not where I want to be. So quite unhappy with P6, naturally, but I'm happy that we made changes going to qualifying and we progressed. We did improve. I think top three was probably possible, so I just got to work on it.”

He made it clear that had he found the ideal set-up earlier in the weekend, he would be much better off.

“If I could start with what I had today, yesterday, and had that practice of driving the car as it was today, because it was miles different from the sprint, and from yesterday. So I really need to deep on that.

“And if I'm honest, I think the simulator really sends me in the wrong direction. So I think I might cut that out now.”

Ferrari came to Miami with a longer list of upgrades than any rival, although Hamilton suggested that McLaren had been more successful with its package.

“The team worked incredibly hard to bring those components,” he said. “And it's a step, but the others have also taken a step.

"I heard McLaren brought a step, but it was worth much more than they anticipated. That's not how we've experienced ours.”

He also made some intriguing comments about Ferrari’s main rivals.

“They're doing something different – Mercedes and McLaren and Red Bull are something different with their front wing to us. So we need to look into that to see whether or not there's something we can improve on.”

Asked to clarify what he meant he said: “Concept. If you just look at everyone else's wing and look at ours, you'll see it looks different.

“I don't know if that's necessarily the whole thing, but I wonder what that's doing, because the others seem to have it, and they've improved something."

Hamilton remains upbeat about Sunday’s race.

“I'm expecting tomorrow the car to feel a lot better, but it's going to be wet. I'm confident with the balance that I have today, and in the wet, hopefully we should be in a good place."