Hamilton explains quest to be more ‘aggressive’ with Ferrari car

Lewis Hamilton is still fine-tuning his approach with Ferrari, seeking to unlock a more aggressive driving style at the wheel of the Italian outfit’s SF-25 contender.

The seven-time world champion’s transition to Ferrari has been anything but seamless, with the F1 veteran facing a steep learning curve with the sport’s most storied team.

While he’s noted improvements since the summer break, Ferrari’s overall lack of competitiveness has overshadowed these gains. In Baku, Hamilton qualified a disappointing 12th and clawed his way to eighth, finishing one spot ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc.

Reflecting on his performance, he pinpointed a key area for growth: braking aggression.

"I think there’s still some improvements to make in terms of how aggressive I can be,” Hamilton explained.

“The car has been quite snappy, so still not 100% confident under braking when I’m attacking on the brakes. In the last race, I was, but in this race, I didn’t feel it so much with the setup that we ended up having.

"It’s kind of crazy, because we’ve been progressing yet we’ve not had results, really in the last few races. But there’s not like no progress, so I think we’re able to do a good weekend and a good result.”

Qualifying Clearly Still Important

For Hamilton, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a stark reminder of the importance of qualifying. The Briton highlighted the standout performance of Williams, who capitalized on a strong qualifying to secure a remarkable result on race day.

“Qualifying clearly is so important if you look at where the Williams was,” he noted. “They did a great job, congratulations to them. What an amazing result,” he told Sky F1.

“I think through practice after P2, honestly, I felt so good in the car and I think ultimately went in the wrong direction with the car. But our ultimate pace in the race was just not on par with the guys up ahead of us.

“I'm happy I moved forwards from 12th but couldn't really care less for that position.”

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• Vasseur: Ferrari lost out in qualifying in Baku, not with team orders

For Hamilton, the underlying theme is one of progress without payoff. Ferrari may not be delivering the results to match expectations, but the Briton insists he is finding small steps in his own adaptation.

The next question is whether the Scuderia can finally give him the machinery to unleash the aggression he’s still holding back – particularly when it comes to attacking on the brakes.

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