Lewis Hamilton ditches Ferrari F1 simulator after setup fury

Lewis Hamilton looking shocked at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix — Photo: © IMAGO

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Lewis Hamilton ditches Ferrari F1 simulator after setup fury

Lewis Hamilton is trying something else for the Canadian Grand Prix

By Remy Ramjiawan.

Friday 8 May 2026 20:27

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Lewis Hamilton has announced he will temporarily stop using Ferrari's simulator after blaming his Miami Grand Prix struggles on the poor feedback giving him poor setup advice.

The seven-time world champion has been with the Scuderia since 2025, yet aside from his sprint victory in China earlier this year, he hasn’t yet made a significant impression. More often than not, it’s his team-mate Charles Leclerc who fights for podium finishes. In Miami he could only finish sixth.

Ferrari simulator gives misleading info

Hamilton had mentioned earlier in the year that the SF-26 carries more of his own 'DNA,' although his third-place finish at the Chinese Grand Prix remains his only season highlight so far.

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He explained his simulator troubles, saying, "Ultimately it's always correlation, but we go on it and then we get to the track and the car feels different when it gets on track."

"You know I don't like simulators in general, but I sit at the simulator every week on the build up to this race, working on correlation constantly and you go on it, you prepare for the track, you drive it and you get the car setup to a certain place and then you come to the track and that set up doesn't work."

Hamilton Plan B for Canada

Hamilton believes the difference between simulator feedback and real track conditions is simply too vast. “You get into the simulator, prepare for the circuit, dial in a specific setup, and then when you hit the track, that setup doesn’t work at all.

"In an ideal world I should have started where Charles [Leclerc] was at the beginning of the weekend on P1 and I think we would have just had a stronger weekend from there.

"So I'm not going to go on the simulator between now and the next race. I'll still go and hold meetings at the factory and stuff, but I'm just going to back away from it for a little bit and see. Because when we went to China I had the best weekend without sim."

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