Lewis Hamilton said his Ferrari’s handling deteriorated enormously between today’s two practice sessions due to a minor set-up change.
He and team mate Charles Leclerc complained about the braking performance on their cars during the second practice session. Hamilton said his car felt much better earlier in the day.
“I was really, really happy with the car in [first practice] and it felt like we had made a step forward and it’s been really positive,” he told the official F1 channel.
“I literally changed like two of the tiniest things that should have had barely any effect at all – the smallest change I’ve ever probably done this year – and we had some brake issues that then made a massive difference.
“So that was then a fight with that. That’s been a problem, that’s been quite a big issue all year, actually. I’ve never experienced that before, that’s a new thing for me this year.”
Hamilton expects it will be a “lottery” whether he encounters the same problem on Saturday. “We will roll the dice – you put one on and it works and then you put another on and then it doesn’t.
“So I hope tomorrow we figure something out. We’re working on it, for sure.”
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In contrast, Leclerc was happier with his car after second practice, despite describing his brake problems as “horrendous” at one stage.
“The whole FP1 was very tricky, we had some different problems,” he said. “In FP2 we put everything together a bit more and it was feeling better on my side.
“But still we are lacking performance. We know our weak point at the moment is the qualifying pace and we still need to work on that.”
He doesn’t expect Ferrari will be among the contenders for pole position. “I don’t think we’ve got that in the car for now,” he said. “The race pace was strong, so that’s positive, but it’s also a track where overtaking is very difficult.
“So we’ve got to focus on our qualifying pace. That’s where we are putting all our effort into and I hope that will pay [off] tomorrow.”
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2025 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
- Red Bull are further off their 2024 pace than any team at Imola
- Bortoleto avoids penalty as stewards give him “benefit of the doubt”
- “Tiniest” set-up changes caused huge deterioration in handling – Hamilton
- Not just McLaren drivers in fight for Imola pole position – Piastri
- Gasly damaged front wing and floor hitting rabbit in first practice
