Lewis Hamilton endured a compromised race at the Miami Grand Prix after first-lap contact left his Ferrari with damage that reduced downforce.
Despite the difficult Sunday, the seven-time world champion departed the weekend with mixed emotions. By the time main qualifying took place, Ferrari had unlocked a dramatic improvement in the SF-26’s performance, prompting visible relief from Hamilton after a troubled start to proceedings.
That turnaround only came after parc ferme restrictions were lifted following a largely unproductive 19-lap sprint, during which Hamilton struggled with a setup ill-suited to the conditions.
Ferrari responded by making significant changes, which finally brought the car into a more competitive window.
Earlier in the weekend, sprint qualifying on Friday had exposed deeper issues. The SF-26 was operating outside its expected range, a problem Hamilton attributed not to the car itself but to ongoing simulator correlation flaws that have persisted since the start of the season. He admitted these tools are actively hindering his preparation.
“If I could start with what I had today, yesterday, and had that practice of driving the car as it was today, because it was miles different from the sprint, and from yesterday,” said Hamilton.
“And if I’m honest, I think the simulator really sends me in the wrong direction. So I think I might cut that out now.
“It was an improvement. We made lots of changes to the car, we didn’t have software issues. So I think we progressed, we stepped forward. I think Q2 was feeling really solid, and then when I got to Q3 I just wasn’t able to extract the maximum.
“I don’t feel comfortable in P6, that’s not where I want to be. So quite unhappy with P6, naturally, but I’m happy that we made changes going to qualifying and we progressed. We did improve. I think top three was probably possible, so I just got to work on it.
“Overall, it was a challenging weekend, but I believe we have a good car and there are some positives to take away. We just need to keep pushing, both at the factory and at the track, to keep adding performance and close the gap as we move forward.”
