Lewis Hamilton explains 'old school' decision in rejecting vital Ferrari aid

Lewis Hamilton has further explained his reasoning behind abandoning his use of Ferrari's F1 simulator, citing his "old school nature."

Following the Miami GP, Hamilton declared that he would no longer use Ferrari's Maranello tool to aid in his preparation for grands prix, believing that it had set him on the wrong set-up path for the race.

He pledged not to use the simulator in the build-up to Canada, believing his decision not to do so prior to the Chinese GP, where he scored third place, vindicated this decision.

Hamilton put in arguably his strongest performance yet as a Ferrari driver in Montreal, finishing a strong second for his best Ferrari result to date. 

Reflecting on this, the seven-time champion indicated he would be prepared to use the simulator again, but only to correlate findings from the weekends, and made an "old school" pledge not to use it to prepare for races in future.

"The simulator, I mean, I’m sure I would drive it at some point. I think what could be good is, for example, going back and doing a correlation to this weekend so we can find out where it’s missing," Hamilton told media, including RacingNews365. 

"Because the test driver will be on there saying it’s all… they will only know what they know because they don’t get to drive. It’s only Charles, and I get to drive the car. So, the positive of something like being able to drive the real car, go back and say, "This is actually what it feels like. These are the things that we’re missing," so that we can improve it. 

"So, I’m always there to help the team move forward and develop it. Now, whether or not I use it to prepare for another race? Probably not.

"There are just too many risks. If you look at the two best races I’ve had, I didn’t use a simulator, and that’s honestly how it was. 

"Pretty much all the championships before, except for probably 2008, I didn’t use the sim, so it’s not a necessity. 

"It’s a tool that can be powerful. But for me, I’m old school. I’m probably better without it."