Revealed: The technical problems behind Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari struggles

Former Ferrari employee Rob Smedley thinks he may have the answer to Lewis Hamilton’s early season struggles.

And it all has to do with a loose rear end of the car.

Ferrari engineer spots Lewis Hamilton flaw

It’s safe to say Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari has not gone to plan.

The much-hyped swap for the seven-time World Champion has only seen him amass 41 points — good enough for seventh in the championship standings thus far, but still lagging behind his teammate Charles Leclerc.

While Hamilton has struggled with all F1 cars since the move to 2022’s ground-effect regulations, the SF-25 seems to be giving him fits.

He has regularly lamented the fact that the car is loose and unbalanced, to the point where he’s unable to “feel it” underneath him. That largely just means that when he turns into a corner, the car isn’t behaving the way he’d expect.

The result has been demoralizing, with Hamilton seeming to grow more dejected each weekend.

More on Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari

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Rob Smedley, who used to work at Ferrari between 2004 and 2013, made his own case for why Lewis Hamilton has been struggling — and it has to do with the loose rear end.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Smedley said, “The car is not that easy to drive.

“It certainly doesn’t suit Lewis’ driving style. Charles can get a bit more on top of it over a single timed lap.

“When you have a high-speed turn-in in a medium-high speed corner, you need a really solid rear. We have seen in the past that when Lewis doesn’t have that [rear stability] that he can lean on, [he struggles].

“If the car is a bit tail-happy he is unhappy and he can’t get the best out of it. That’s just his driving style.

“I do think that there is just a general lack of performance. It will be tiny tiny margins. It will not be one thing that can do that car that suddenly becomes the silver bullet.

“There will be just a series of things they have got to do. There are in this position at the moment. They are where they are.

“This is where you see their true mettle. Can they work their way out of it? Can they find more performance?

“If they can find more general performance, both qualifying and the race — you’re talking about two-three tenths — it will put them in a significantly stronger position. They are the margins that they got to find now.”

They’re fine margins, but any changes that make the car more comfortable for the drivers will also provide an unquestionable — and much needed — morale boost.

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