In 2024, Hamilton was comprehensively out-qualified by a team-mate for the primary time in his profession, ending the season 19-5 right down to George Russell of their one-lap head-to-head, at a median deficit of 0.171 seconds.
Though each received two races, Hamilton completed 22 factors adrift within the championship.
It was a complicated scenario, as a result of in 2022 and 2023, the 2 had been carefully matched in qualifying, and one in all them completed forward within the championship one 12 months and the opposite the opposite.
The underside line is that Hamilton struggled with the traits of the 2024 Mercedes greater than Russell.
The automotive had slow-corner understeer. The way in which to counteract this was to slip the rear on entry to advertise turn-in. However doing that generates rear tyre temperature, which reduces grip, an issue that will increase over time. Hamilton was much less capable of cope with this than Russell.
On prime of this, there isn’t any query that, pissed off by his qualifying deficit, Hamilton would generally push too exhausting when it mattered proper on the finish of qualifying. That led to errors, which additional harmed his efficiency.
The Mercedes engineers felt that there was one thing concerning the normal traits of the present technology of vehicles and their ground-effect design philosophy that doesn’t marry as effectively with Hamilton’s fashion because the earlier generations of vehicles.
However simply because that was the case final 12 months doesn’t imply it will likely be the identical this 12 months at Ferrari. It could rely on how the automotive behaves.
Equally, it is inconceivable to understand how a lot of an impact psychology had – Hamilton needed to do a complete 12 months with Mercedes, the longest season in historical past, understanding he was leaving on the finish of the season, and together with his coronary heart successfully already elsewhere.
Actually Vasseur believes that is too important to ignore. And Hamilton concurs.
