(Motorsport-Total.com) – Lewis Hamilton’s gap to teammate Charles Leclerc at the British Grand Prix was, according to the Ferrari driver, mainly due to a setup change immediately before the race. An adjustment to the front wing significantly worsened the balance of his Ferrari SF-26 in the first stint and cost the seven-time world champion valuable time early on.
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After Ferrari initially started the weekend in Silverstone with muted expectations, the start went surprisingly well. Hamilton secured pole position for the sprint race on Friday and later finished second there behind Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli. In the Grand Prix, however, the Brit had to settle for third place behind race winner Leclerc and Antonelli.
While Leclerc passed the pole-sitter already in the first lap and was then able to pull away significantly, Hamilton continuously lost time in the first part of the race. According to his own statements, the cause was a last-minute change to the car.
More front wing for Leclerc, less for Hamilton
“Charles did a great job today and all the magic I had on Friday just disappeared over the course of the weekend,” explains Hamilton. “Regarding the balance, I noticed that Charles increased the front load compared to qualifying by adding more wing, while I felt the car was strongly oversteering with the differential settings made.”
Therefore, Hamilton chose the opposite path. “So I took wing off, and as a result, I had massive understeer at the start of the race.”
The reduced front wing load caused Hamilton to have major problems turning in, especially in the fast sections of Silverstone. The combination of Copse as well as Maggots, Becketts, and Chapel proved critical because every loss of speed there propagated through the rest of the track.
“I completely lacked front grip,” says Hamilton. “We went too low on the front wing in terms of load, and that is my responsibility and that of the engineering team.”
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Pirelli warns about the consequences of understeer
The balance problems also affected the tires. Pirelli’s motorsport chief Dario Maraffuschi explains that an understeering car stresses the front tires more and thus increases wear:
“We have seen that understeer actually puts too much load on the front tires,” said Maraffuschi. “It does not generate temperature but makes you more susceptible to increased wear. From the tire perspective, I therefore believe it is not worth setting up the car to tend to understeer.”
Hamilton fights back with adjustments
During the further course of the race, Hamilton managed to partially improve the car balance through the adjustment options available on the steering wheel. By adjusting the differential and engine braking, he was able to stabilize the turning behavior and gradually bring his lap times closer to those of Leclerc.
“I was only able to get the car to turn in by the middle of the first stint when I managed to make it turn in a bit better through some changes to the differential. But by then the gap was already huge. Then the five seconds in the pit stop and from there it was just one problem after another,” explains Hamilton.
From Ferrari’s point of view, the last-minute setup decision proved to be a decisive factor in the fight for victory. While Leclerc was able to control the race with a more aggressive front wing setup, Hamilton’s opposite adjustment cost him crucial seconds in the early phase that could not be made up later.
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