Lewis Hamilton calls out career-first experience with frustrating Ferrari 'lottery'

Lewis Hamilton has decried the unpredictable nature of his Ferrari and its brakes, saying it is a "lottery" to get a set that works.

It has been a running theme for the seven-time F1 drivers' champion this season, who is now racing with Brembo brakes, not the Carbon Industrie variety he became accustomed to at Mercedes.

The British driver started his Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend well, going fifth fastest in the opening free practice session, but struggled in the second hour of running, when he was only quick enough for P11.

Explaining the drop-off in performance between the two sessions, the 40-year-old revealed he made two small, seemingly insignificant changes to his SF-25. However, they appear to have had far-reaching ramifications for his brakes.

"FP1 was good," Hamilton said. "I was really, really happy with the car. Felt like we had made a step forward, and it was feeling really positive. 

"I literally changed the two tiniest things, that shouldn't have had barely any effect at all, the smallest change I've probably ever done this year, and we had some brake issues [in FP2] that then made a massive difference.

"And so that was then just 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."

Although, Hamilton maintained it is not user error or part of him adapting to using a different brake manufacturer.

"It's not the transition, it's the performance," the 105-time grand prix winner insisted.

When asked if the situation was fixable overnight, ahead of FP3 and qualifying at Imola, the Ferrari driver said the team would "roll the dice" on the issue again.

"It's a lottery. We'll roll the dice. You put one on and it works, you put another on and it doesn't, then we'll see," he added, laughing. "So I hope tomorrow we figure something out. We're working on it."