Lewis Hamilton's interaction with fans prior to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola gained traction on social media as Ferrari prepares for their first home run this season. The team has suffered with pace so far, but is expecting improvements over time.
The Briton moved to the Italian outfit this year after spending over a decade at Mercedes. While this move was largely celebrated by the Tifosi as they expected the team to perform better owing to Hamilton's experience, he has failed to deliver so far. Apart from his victory during the Sprint in China, Hamilton has mostly suffered with the car's drivability and has mostly finished out of the top 5.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola is crucial to Ferrari, as this is the first of the two races in Italy. Preparing for the weekend, Lewis Hamilton was seen interacting with the fans and shared powerful words with them.
"We keep pushing, right?" He could be heard saying in the clip.
While he is backed by fans to perform better in races, the Ferrari SF-25 does not seem to be delivering on pace. Moreover, Hamilton is new to using Ferrari-powered cars, adding to that is the time he needs to adapt to the car, which is seemingly not pleasant to drive, as it seems to lose traction out of the corners.
Veteran F1 engineer blames rear grip in SF-25 for Lewis Hamilton's lack of competitive performance with Ferrari
As mentioned, the SF-25 does not seem to provide enough grip out of corners, and both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc seem to lose time correcting their steering inputs most of the time.
Adding to that, veteran F1 engineer Rob Smedley (who has previously worked with Ferrari), claimed that the car also lacks rear grip, which makes it extremely difficult to control on fast-paced corners.
"The car is not that easy to drive. It certainly doesn’t suit Lewis’ driving style. Charles can get a bit more on top of it over a single timed lap. When you have a high-speed turn-in in a medium-high speed corner, you need a really solid rear," he said on the F1 Nation podcast.
He feels that this makes it more difficult for Lewis Hamilton, considering his driving style.
"We have seen in the past that when Lewis doesn’t have that [rear end stability] that he can lean on, [he struggles]. If the car is a bit tail-happy he is unhappy and he can’t get the best out of it. That’s just his driving style."
Ferrari currently sits in fourth place in the Constructors' Championship, which is quite surprising considering they were the contenders for the title last year and only lost by a thin margin.