Lewis Hamilton reveals 'never-used before' system causing Ferrari struggles

Lewis Hamilton has explained how a system he never previously used at Mercedes is contributing to his struggles at Ferrari. 

Bar the sprint race in China which he won from pole, Hamilton has largely struggled to match team-mate Charles Leclerc across the first four races, although he did take a best finish of fifth in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

For the first time in his F1 career, Hamilton is not using a Mercedes engine, having done so at McLaren between 2007-2012 and then in the success-laden 12 years he spent with the Mercedes works team.

Hamilton is now adjusting to the new Ferrari power unit, which requires the use of engine braking, something he never had to deploy at Mercedes.

On top of this, Hamilton is also using Brembo brakes after spending 12 years on Carbon Industries at Mercedes.

"The car really does require a different driving style and I'm slowly adjusting to that and the set-up," Hamilton explained to media including RacingNews365. 

"I've been a bit all over the place with it, a long way from Charles in the past two weekends, and then slowly migrating towards him, so if I start the weekend in a more convenient spot, and apply the techniques I learnt this weekend, hopefully I will improve.

"I have never used engine braking before, for the past 12 years, we never used engine braking, but here we use it a lot in the car.

"The brakes are so much different to what I had in the past, they move around a little bit more and in the last stint, I had to use the rears to turn the car, but then at other times, you have to put all your weight on the fronts.

"There is a bigger balance window than I'm used to as well."