New Lewis Hamilton pace theory emerges involving Fernando Alonso

F1 commentator Peter Windsor believes Lewis Hamilton has taken a leaf out of Fernando Alonso’s book in his attempts to coax some performance out of the Mercedes W14.

Having struggled for pace at the start of the 2023 season, Hamilton has established a clear advantage over highly rated team-mate George Russell in the two months since Mercedes introduced a major upgrade package in Monaco.

After podium finishes in Spain, Canada and Britain, the seven-time World Champion secured his first pole position since December 2021 at last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, but faded to fourth on race day after losing the lead at the start.

Lewis Hamilton is like Fernando Alonso to make the Mercedes work

Windsor first noticed a difference in Hamilton’s driving style at the Monaco GP, with the 38-year-old also faring better than Russell in cool conditions in Barcelona at the following race.

And speaking via a recent YouTube stream, the former title-winning Williams team manager has likened Hamilton’s change – seemingly targeted at generating more temperature in the front tyres – to Alonso’s ability to work wonders in underperforming machinery.

He said: “To me, what Lewis was doing at Monaco was a real surprise.

“Lo and behold, there he is getting more out of the tyres in Barcelona when the temperatures were down – and in general getting more out of the 14B – than George.

“To my eye, Lewis is definitely taking longer corners, leaning on the front more, making the front tyres work more, making the first part of the corner longer, maybe braking later as well than he has at any stage of his Formula 1 career.

“I think it’s Lewis thinking that this is the only way to drive this car, to make sure that I’ve got the fronts working and I’m up to temperature with the fronts and I can then do what I need to do.

“It could well be a unique style, it’s a bit Fernando Alonso-ish given that Fernando has a bit of a spike as he’s loading up the steering whereas Lewis is still incredibly supple in that area and the transition between straight line and applying steering.

“His transitions are seamless still, but he definitely has longer corners. He generally seems to be braking late, doesn’t he? That’s only because he’s running longer corners really, I guess, that’s why we’re seeing that. He’s just doing more braking in a straight line.

“I think that’s what’s happening, I think Lewis has actually changed his style this year because that’s the only way he can get this car to work.

“Lewis, to me, is still an ultra-short corner driver, which he was able to showcase so well in so many years in great racing cars. But when you don’t have a great racing car, sometimes you have to go beyond that platform and you start to have to do other things.

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“It’s a sign of his talent that he can do that, actually. It’s a bit like driving in the wet, you don’t see a lot of short corners in the wet because that’s not where the grip is.

“The grip is usually on the outside away from the racing line, and if that’s the case you drive to that grip point but then all the things that enable a [Max] Verstappen to get a car into his transition zone – his very supple hand and foot work – allows him in the same way to get to that grip point on the outside of the corner in the wet in a very supple way.

“He’s just going quicker as a result and that’s what I think you’re seeing a little bit with Lewis now in the dry.”

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