Lewis Hamilton hopes to quickly turn the page on Silverstone and approaches the Belgian Grand Prix with the ambition to continue the progress shown by Ferrari for several weeks.
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The seven-time world champion believes that the Scuderia is on the right track, notably thanks to a better correlation between the simulator and the performances observed on track.
“Spa is the next step. So far, we have really made very good progress ”, Hamilton explained.
Hamilton better than the simulator
The Briton notably highlighted the work done before the British Grand Prix, where simulations had recommended a different approach in terms of setup. More recently, Ferrari went to inaugurate the new Madring layout (photo above), but this symbolic test does not allow trying useful solutions for regulatory reasons.
“What gives me more confidence is that before Silverstone, the simulator indicated that we had to go with a very different setup philosophy, he says. Yet, with my engineers, we decided to stick to a more usual direction. ”
Charles Leclerc had, for his part, followed the simulator’s recommendations before gradually adopting the setups favored by Hamilton: “Charles started with the configuration proposed by the simulator, but in the end, the philosophy I defended turned out to be the right one, and he ended up moving in that direction.”
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For Hamilton, this evolution confirms that the technical directions he has advocated since joining Ferrari are starting to pay off: “It’s encouraging to see that the direction I pushed for is starting to pay off. We just need to keep evolving the car and continue our efforts.”
The specific constraints of Spa
The Ferrari driver also believes that the development of the SF-26 will have to continue in order to stay at the level of Mercedes and other top teams: “We have to keep bringing upgrades.”
However, Hamilton knows that Spa-Francorchamps will be a very different challenge from Silverstone. The Belgian circuit, with its long straights and significant energy management demands, will notably test the progress made by Ferrari.
Despite the encouraging performances of the Scuderia in recent weeks, the Briton feels he has a personal debt after his British Grand Prix: “Spa is a circuit with long straights, but in the end, it’s mainly up to me to do a better job than the one I did at Silverstone.”
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