Ferrari: Hamilton asks fans to be patient

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari driver, spoke on Formula 1’s media day ahead of the race weekend at Imola. The seven-time world champion began by saying, “I don’t feel any pressure. I arrived in Italy on Tuesday morning and the weather was beautiful. It reminded me a lot of when I was a young kart racer who came to Italy to race and experience some of the most memorable days of my life.”

“I remember the Parma circuit well, and I remember how much it hurt me, years later, to know that they were destroying it. I remember Lonato, Jesolo, Sarno, so many kartodromes where I had a wonderful time. It is a great joy to be able to come and work here. So far I have had little time to visit other Italian destinations, I have never been to Florence and I would like to see Rome well, hopefully in the future.”

Hamilton then went on to talk about the weekend in Italy, “Obviously I’ve raced here at Imola many times before, but it’s all different when you’re part of this team, the affection and support you get is something else entirely. I see the passion, the hope that we can do well, but I think it is important to ask for patience, although I for one am not the most patient person. It will take some time to get to where we want to be and need to be.”

“There is still a lot of potential to be exploited in the single-seater,” confirmed in line with Vasseur–s vision; “there is still a lot to do. I hope that this weekend we can start to take a step in the right direction. There are many problems, but one in particular, the most significant, is the one we are all focused on.”

Hamilton then addressed the single-seater suspension problems, “I don’t know what you are talking about. Between here and Spain we will continue to work on unlocking some of that performance that we haven’t been able to take advantage of yet. We’re just following our plan, and that’s what the work we’ll start tomorrow morning is also based on. In two races there will also be the new front wing standard. I will test the single-seater in the simulator before the trip to Spain, and I will have a better picture of whether it will change anything or not.”

“Extracting potential” is an expression that has been in vogue for years in Formula 1, probably gives the idea of the concept, but it makes it difficult to understand how much a single-seater can improve in the absence of updates, based only on studying the setup. Can the goal of countering McLaren really be achieved by working only on the setup? “I think it is very, very difficult to assume that we can get close to McLaren,” admitted Hamilton – however, we beat them in one race. We have to say that this year they have an advantage over the rest of the pack, but will that be the case at every single circuit? I can&#8217t say that. Regarding our single-seater, I think it has enough performance to come very close to or equal both Mercedes and Red Bull. At the moment the range of use of the car is very, very narrow, which is almost impossible to maintain, and that’s what we have to work on.”

The former Mercedes driver also shrugged off questions about the radio argument that occurred in Miami: “We talked the day before yesterday in Maranello, I spent time with the team. I sat with the engineers, I sat with the team managers. But I didn&#8217t have tea.”

Hamilton then addressed his start to the season: “I didn’t imagine an easier start to the championship, absolutely not. I expected it to be very difficult, because I had joined a new team before, and it had been very, very challenging. I came in with a very open mind, I couldn’t know exactly how difficult it was going to be, it’s as challenging as possible on all fronts.”

“But I think we are working well together,” concluded Lewis – there’s still a lot to do to be able to aim for success. The World Championship? There’s still a long way to go. With all the years of experience I have behind me, I can say that if you find yourself more than a hundred points behind after the first quarter of the season, and you are fighting against a rather dominant single-seater, you have to take into account that you are not in the fight for the championship. But things could change, who knows?”