F1 Canadian Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton confirms Ferrari change, claims 'the goalpost is always moving'

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton confirms Ferrari change and claims 'the goalpost is always moving'

No sim for Hamilton in the countdown to Montreal

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Friday 22 May 2026 17:55

Lewis Hamilton has confirmed that he did not use Ferrari's simulator in the build-up to this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.

The 41-year-old seven-time world champion is looking for answers to inch him ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc in the Maranello pecking order.

The British superstar said recently that he would likely make a change in his preparation by ditching the sim, and when speaking to media in Montreal he explained in detail just why.

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Hamilton explains Ferrari sim decision

"With simulation, I feel that the goalpost is always moving," claimed Hamilton.

"So, I started driving the simulator in 1997, the first simulator, I would say, at McLaren. The cockpit didn’t move but we had force feedback in the steering, and I remember it was at Woking, at McLaren’s old factory.

"And then when it moved to the first real gen, they let me sometimes use it when I was in GP2. And then McLaren, we used it relatively often. Didn’t particularly enjoy it, because they were kind of long days and a lot of laps. There’s a point at which you stop learning when you’re doing so many laps, for me personally."

After leaving McLaren for Mercedes, Hamilton would claim six more world titles with the Silver Arrows, but says he did so almost entirely without leaning on the team's simulator.

Six world titles at Mercedes but no sim
"When I joined Mercedes, they were quite far off with the sim at the time. I didn’t use it in all the championships that we won, barely used the simulator, very rarely. And then in 2020, maybe 2021, I started to use it a little bit more. I think there’s only ever been really one time through all the years that I’ve used the sim in these 20 years that the set-up that I had on the sim was the exact set-up I used in qualifying and qualified pole, and that was Singapore 2012, maybe, I think, something like that.
"So, then all the other times it’s not quite perfect. But as I said, it is a powerful tool. I just think since the last year I used it every week and more often than not I felt you do all the work on the sim, and you get to the track, you find a set-up that you’re comfortable with, you get to the track and everything is opposite.
"So, then you’re undoing the things you’ve learned, some of the ways you’ve approached the corners you have to shift and adjust, set-up that you felt that was good on the simulator is not the same at the track. Sometimes it is, and so it’s kind of hit and miss. So, I just decided for this one, I’m just going to sit it out and focus more on the data."

So how did Hamilton get ready for Canada?

So if Hamilton decided to avoid the simulator to prepare for Canada, how did he get ready for what is one of his happiest hunting grounds (level best with Michael Schumacher on seven Grand Prix victories in Montreal).

"So, there was just a lot of deep diving on through-corner balance, mechanical balance, corner approaches, brake balance, optimising the brakes, which have been a problem for me for some time," he explained.

"That’s led to really good integration with my engineers. It’s not a tool that… I’m not saying I’m never going to use again. I think it’s something that, for sure, we’ll continue to utilise, particularly on power deployment.

"But yeah, so most often what I’ve done for the last six months, you’d go in after the weekend and you’d work on correlation, and so that when we run it again, but then you go to the next track and it’s slightly off sometimes. So, we’ll see how the weekend goes.

"But China, for example, I didn’t do the sim for China and it was my best weekend."

Despite only claiming that one solitary podium in China since joining Ferrari, Hamilton maintains he is happy and committed to a future with the Scuderia.

In the same press conference he confirmed that he is under contract at Maranello for 2027 and expects to be in the sport for several years to come.

Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Gilles Villeneuve