Lewis Hamilton says driving a current F1 car is not as easy as it looks after the “lift and coast” radio messages in Canada made many observers question how hard drivers have to push these days.
Hamilton insists that current drivers have their hands full as they manage fuel, tyres and other parameters, and they need information from the pit wall.
“It’s different definitely from the years where you had fuel pit stop and you had tyres which you could perhaps push further,” he said today. “But it’s the new way of F1, apparently. It’s not easy to be accurate with the different driving techniques we have to use nowadays.
“Naturally when you’re behind people you want to be pushing to get past, but you’ve also got to watch your fuel, and watch your tyres, because otherwise you won’t make your stop. There’s so many things which you have to have in the back of your mind when you make those decisions.”
Lewis insisted that drivers need to have information from their engineers.
“For us drivers with the way these tyres are, [for] the optimum way to get to the end of the race, we don’t have all the information in front of us. You can’t feel how much fuel you are using. You are driving as fast as you can the majority of the time, so you need some guidance with that.
“What do you think’s going to happen if they don’t tell me about tyres? I’m still going to drive the same. And if they don’t tell me about fuel, then maybe more cars won’t finish. If that’s more exciting, we can do that!”
Elaborating on the lift and coast issue he said: “You have no guidance to know how much fuel you’re using. There is an indicator that you can have, but it’s not very accurate. You’re just driving your race, and you know you have 100kgs to use. It’s not like you have a figure that shows you how much money you are using in your bank account and you can see it going down as you make your payments.
“A lap is payment and you don’t know how much fuel you used than any other lap. You could just use one lower gear and you lose than than the one before, or you can be a little bit more aggressive on power and you use a little bit more fuel than on the previous lap, but you can’t see that. So that’s where you get the guidance.
“A couple of years ago there was more information, so I’m not really sure, I think people are looking to blame something because they’re unhappy about something.”
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog 
Lewis’ thoughts tell me that pit-car radio should be banned….
Let the driver figure it out by the pit board.
+1
Absolutely!
Not so long ago Lou was quoted as saying the current gen cars are not challenging enough. Which is it then? Truth or truth?
Depends on which way the wind is blowing, when it comes to Lewis’s opinions…
Zee answer, my friend, is blowing in the diffuser.
Lewis is talking about a different aspect here, he said it’s easier from the speed, grip aero side etc. here he’s talking about car management, not the whole car experience. So it’s consistent. But if it’s an insider joke, sorry 🙂
I feel fine with an outsider role. Insiders? I’m the one who spends muny on the sport – no me = no insiders; if I don’t attend races or spend €€€ on the magazines, then all the insiders will be packing their bags and covering soccer instead. Empty grandstands & poor viewing figures. How’s dat for outsider information? While the insiders are busy chasing ghosts with fuel flow & other gimmicks I’ll find new ways to part with my cash. OK, gotta go: you’re lucky my train ride is over.
It may be harder than it looks, but it is exactly as boring as it looks.
🙂
Flying a 747 isn’t easy either, but it’s not like I’m going to spend two hours on every other Sunday watching them take off and land at SFO…
If there were 20 747’s racing, I think you would watch;-)