Lewis Hamilton told he’s developed a driving ‘habit’ that might be impossible for Ferrari to fix

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Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton entered his 18th season as a Formula 1 driver full of hope.

For the first time in Lewis Hamilton’s career, he wouldn’t be driving a car powered by a Mercedes engine and would be gracing the grid in Ferrari’s iconic red overalls.

Ferrari haven’t won a championship since 2008, but Hamilton, alongside new teammate Charles Leclerc, would have believed that they could have brought that barren run to an end.

Unfortunately, team principal Fred Vasseur has seen his team fail to make the progress needed to catch McLaren.

Neither Ferrari driver is in contention to win the drivers’ championship, and Andrea Stella’s team have basically wrapped up the constructors’ title before the summer break.

Hamilton has not hit the heights that he would have hoped since his move from Mercedes, and the problems he experienced last season have bled into the current campaign.

Vasseur has defended Hamilton’s Q2 exit at the Hungarian Grand Prix, citing errors Ferrari made and the minuscule deficit that saw the seven-time world champion fail to reach the top 10 shootout.

However, Sam Bird believes that people he’s spoken to have identified a driving ‘habit’ Hamilton has picked up that Ferrari might not be able to fix.

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Sam Bird says Ferrari might not be able to fix Lewis Hamilton’s trail braking ‘habit’

Bird was speaking on the Chequered Flag Podcast after qualifying, and discussing Hamilton’s woes, he said: “I think he and Ferrari know the issue.

“It’s just getting out of the habit of creating the issue because clearly Charles Leclerc doesn’t have the issue.

“For me, from speaking to people as well, it sounds like it’s trail braking and it looks like it’s trail braking as well.

“Basically, when you hit the brake hard, you put the car into a pitch, and then if you trail brake in these cars, you can stall the rear diffuser, which then creates rear-end instability, end of braking.

“Which is exactly what he’s been struggling with. You look at him trying to negotiate [turns] six and seven, every other lap it looks like he’s going to have a bit of a moment through there, and it creates inconsistencies when you do that.

“Quite often, he struggles with this specific problem. The thing is, if you then go, right, you’ve got end of braking rear instability, let’s raise the front of the car to give you less rake.

“All you’ll do then is create a load of understeer, so that’s a no-go. Then you go, OK, well, what we’ll do is we’ll put a stiffer front spring in, that’s a no-go.

“So, everything they do in order to help him with the issue is actually probably going to make the front end worse, and the car ultimately slower if he then drives it the way that Charles Leclerc is driving it.

“That’s the problem that they’ve got.”

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Lewis Hamilton hasn’t looked comfortable at Ferrari since his Mercedes move

Bird noticed Hamilton’s struggles under braking before speaking to people close to the seven-time world champion and finding out more information.

Valtteri Bottas has talked about Hamilton’s strengths at the Hungaroring, which has only emphasised how difficult he’s finding getting up to speed at Ferrari, as he can’t capitalise on racing at one of his favourite tracks.

After more than a decade at Mercedes, there was always going to be a period of adaptation when Hamilton arrived at Maranello.

However, both he and the team would have hoped that he would be up to speed at this point, although Leclerc’s recent qualifying struggles before his rapid pole position lap suggest that the car is just as much of a problem as the driver.

Hamilton’s spin in qualifying at Spa was partly caused by a change to Hamilton’s brake pads, and also led to Leclerc’s crash in Canada.

The 40-year-old needs all the help he can get right now, but whether Ferrari are able to offer that to him is yet to be seen.