Why Lewis Hamilton hates driving F1's current cars

Lewis Hamilton really doesn’t like driving Formula 1’s current cars, which are giving him a unique problem in his ultra-successful career. 

For the first time, F1’s most successful driver ever is struggling to adapt to the demands of his machinery - to the point Hamilton has admitted he’s “sucked” in qualifying for a long time in this era of F1 cars, which he calls “really frustrating” to drive.

Our latest video explains why he's struggling and how he's really comparing to Mercedes team-mate George Russell.

0:00 Hamilton's unique problem
2:28 The evidence from 2024
5:53 How he really compares
7:11 The impact of Mercedes' upgrades
8:16 A 'stubborn' approach
10:35 Sunday magic is still there
11:52 What Ferrari move can prove

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#f1 #formula1 #formulaone #f12024 #f1news #lewishamilton #hamilton #mercedes #formula1driver #f1hamilton #f1explained #Russell #georgerussell

[mondodimotori]

Ground effects cars require a whole different driving style. The same thing happened when they were first introduced back in the late 70s.

[Dante_]

It's hard to change the way you have driven for the last 20 years, if he tried it would be a Riccardo situation. Its like telling a left handed person "no, you are right handed now". Sure you adapt to make it work but it is just not the same.

[Fail-nvqh]

Hamilton may suck in quali in this era but his race pace is still one of the best (if not the best) in the current grid.

[justjustincase]

Dude is going on 40, driving in an era that doesn’t suit his driving style at all in a car that is barely the third fastest on the grid, and is STILL winning races. I don’t wanna hear anyone question the man’s talent again.

[andymf]

Idea for a podcast could be what are the drivers(current and past) favourite cars to drive. What era, engine and aero.

[SiVlog]

If we rewind back to 2013, people questioned whether Hamilton could win races in something other than a McLaren. After all, due to not being used to the brakes Mercedes used, it meant that he was lacking the trademark confidence to brake later than most into corners, costing lap time to his then new team mate, Nico Rosberg. Worse still, the 2013 Mercedes tended to have tyre chewing tendencies, meaning that both drivers plummeted down the order as they needed to change tyres sooner than most, for example, Hamilton qualified alongside Rosberg on the front row in Spain 2013, but really struggled with the tyres, dropping down to 12th place

[travisfubu]

Verstappen also complained about the cars being too big and heavy. These cars are the worst cars for the past 2 decades. If anyone saw how small the cars were in the 2000s there was a lot of racing

[joshd]

Definitely a driving style issue in qualy which unfortunately becomes much harder to rewire for an older driver

[diogosilva]

Hamilton fan here - I think this trend will continue and I fully expect Charles to out qualify him most of the time. Sundays will be another story, hopefully

[garrettbeckermusic]

Never thought about it before, but I feel like his racing style combined with his skills would lead him to decimate the IndyCar field

[Boetbar]

Hamilton will finish ahead of at least three drivers currently ahead of him in the WDC and Russell won't catch him from here.

[HabitualLine-Stepper]

To be fair, Hamilton has won a race in every generation of F1 car that he's raced.

As he's 'slowed' over one lap, he's (ducks for cover) becoming Alonso-esque in each grand prix.

[slicklace]

This shows just how good Lewis is still. Despite the fact he’s struggling with the car he’s still there grinding. For that alone you have to take your hat off to him because he’s showing what champions are made off.

[sar]

Hamilton’s complaints about not being able to brake later than he wants sums up exactly why Ricciardo declined so badly. They can’t throw the car around the way they prefer anymore.

[folu]

Dude, i love these 10-15 min vids on F1. Genuinely wait for your uploads weekly - keep up the good work guys

[DonLee]

He may be losing out in qualifying, but Lewis is still the best wheel to wheel racer, imo. He's had a couple of run-ins with eyebrow man, but most of the time, Lewis has the right balance of aggression and patience.

[simon]

Verstappen also doesn't like these cars since they basically have understeer built in.

Crazy that both of the most successful drivers on the grid dislike these regulations, despite having completely different driving styles

[Dragonson]

Hamilton fan here, just want to say thanks for this video, going through all that footage and telemetry would have been a slog. Just want to let y'all know the effort is appreciated.

[TB]

SLH has won races in three different eras of F1 race cars.

[random-person]

2 things of note here. vettel had the same problem coming into 2014 when he just couldnt get to grips with the new engine/pu. rbr gave him all the help he needed but he still struggled because of the way HE used to brake. and you talk about how lewis is struggling, and thats fine, though to be fair both drivers are struggling since the new cars came out in 22. and remember, lewis took on the role of tester during much of the first half of 22 and was still only 35 points behind. so far, russell and hamilton have one each for finishing higher up the standings.