Rumors
'Ferrari have solved Hamilton's braking issues in the ground effect era'
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are currently making good use of the 1000km available for TPC testing as per the FIA's guidelines. According to Spanish journal, Marca, the braking issues experienced by the Briton at Mercedes since the introduction of the ground effect rules in 2022, are a thing of the past at the Scuderia.
Toto Wolff, team principal at Mercedes, discussed Hamilton's braking woes in a recent interview with Auto, Motor und Sport. "He [Hamilton] brakes late and throws the car aggressively into the corner. The car and the tyres can't handle that. With these cars, it is sometimes better to drive at 98 percent. And that applies even more to qualifying than the race," attributing the Briton's poor 2024 form to his driving style of the current ground effect cars.
'Hamilton's braking woes a thing of the past at Ferrari'
According to Marca, Ferrari's main objective with the Montemeló test is to "perfect their data recollection and interpetation methodology," and in Hamilton's case to better adjust himself to the Brembo brake discs, after having used Carbon Industries' while at Mercedes. Contrary to certain rumours that indicated the Briton had requested Ferrari made changes to the brake systems, the Spanish journal now claims such request never existed.
In fact, they claim Hamilton's response to Ferrari's brake system have been 'very positive', as far as a solution to his 2024 braking issues being solved. Furthermore, the Scuderia also want the Briton to adapt himself to the Italian marquee's Power Unit which differs significantly from the one developed and built at Mercedes' Brixworth factory.
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