Lewis Hamilton refused to test the 2022 car on the simulator, saying that there is too much work to devote time to the future.
Even though there are just two races left for the 2021 season to end, all the F1 teams are focused on the cars for next season. Some drivers have even tested their teams’ 2022 cars on simulators.
The seven-time champion is in a title race at the moment, so he has the pressure to deliver in the present and in the future. Therefore, he has to be focused on multiple fronts, and that according to him is unnecessary.
Hamilton refused to test the 2022 car on the simulator, and said that he doesn’t think it holds many benefits.
“I haven’t driven the car in the sim because I’ve literally just been focusing on this one,” he said, as quoted by FormulaNerds.
“It’s been a hard enough workload as it is. But I’m in constant contact with the team.
“Even after our races, I’m always talking about, ‘this is where our car is right now, and these are the things I want on next year’s car, keep an eye out for these things. There are the issues I have with the engine, I don’t want to see that next year, please fix it’, I’m constantly having these conversations with heads.”
In the loop
“When I come away from the races, my big meetings I usually have with Shov (Andrew Shovlin), generally at the end of the week once they’ve collected the data,” he continued.
“Then, I have my meetings with Bono (Peter Bonnington), and then one with the team that are working on the next year’s car, just to get an update on where they are – whether it’s heavy rearwards aero or forwards aero, what kind of ride heights we can expect, what issues are they anticipating, what challenges are they having and what they anticipate it will be like in the car.
“But right now, with the progress it’s making in the wind tunnel, there is no point driving the car because it’s on a steep learning curve,” he concluded.
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