“We are working hard”: Ferrari’s brake supplier addresses Lewis Hamilton’s ‘complaints’ 

Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton made the move from Mercedes to Ferrari ahead of the 2025 F1 season. While moving to a completely new team culture was something that Hamilton needed to adjust to, the braking system on the Ferrari has been a monster that the Briton hasn't been able to tame. Amid the recent struggles, Ferrari brake supplier came out and addressed Hamilton's complaints.

Lewis Hamilton raced with Mercedes for over a decade and got used to the braking system of the Silver Arrows. Unlike most of the F1 grid, Mercedes opted for Carbone Industrie as its brake disc supplier. Ferrari, on the other hand, has had a long-standing partnership with Brembo. Moving to a new team completely offset that balance for the seven-time champion.

Lewis Hamilton is infamous for his late and hard braking, which is one of the factors that separated the Briton from the rest during his championship-winning seasons. The 40-year-old, during his time at Mercedes, developed a style where he stood on the brakes into corner entry and liked a strong initial bite, and progressively let go of the brakes as the car rolled into the corner.

The Carbone Industrie disc provided that string initial bites when the brakes were hot. Brembo, on the other hand, reportedly has a more progressive braking curve over a wider temperature window. While the change might be small, for a driver like Lewis Hamilton who depends a lot on the brakes, it might as well be making a difference.

F1 Grand Prix Of Hungary - Source: Getty

Brembo’s F1 Customer Manager, Andrea Algeri, came out and addressed Lewis Hamilton's complaints with the braking and detailed what the brake supplier has been doing to resolve the same. He said,

“It was very exciting to start to work with Lewis. Obviously, we had some complaints from him within our regular communication and so on, and we are working hard to try to put him in a comfort zone in terms of braking.” (via The Race)

“We know he was used to a different material first, but also a different set-up in terms of general braking of the car that are not only the brakes themselves, but also engine braking, energy recovery and so on. So we have been pushing a lot from the team, and we are working hard to try to solve the situation and to have the best result from him,” added Algeri

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Lewis Hamilton detailed the difference in braking style at Ferrari in comparison to Mercedes

The different levels of engine braking, differential settings, and brake bias are crucial to gaining time in the corner entry and exit. Lewis Hamilton came out after the Bahrain GP earlier this year and detailed how the braking at Ferrari was vastly different from Mercedes.

The seven-time champion detailed the difference in the engine braking as well as the brake feel. Lewis Hamilton said,

“I never used engine braking before. In the past 12 years, we never used engine braking but here we use a lot of engine braking to turn the car. We have different brakes. The brakes are so much different to what I had in the past and the car moves around a little bit more.”

Ferrari introduced a new rear suspension and brakes at the 2025 Belgian GP, which didn't bode well with Hamilton as the Briton locked up the rear during his final lap in SQ1 and spun going into the Bus stop chicane at Spa Francorchamps.