Preparation in the F1 simulator: Oscar Piastri disagrees with Lewis Hamilton

Things are going much better for Lewis Hamilton this season than they did last year, and that is due in no small part to the way the seven-time world champion prepares for Grand Prix weekends. In May, the Ferrari star revealed that he no longer wants to use the simulator to prepare for races, as he finds it misleading.

“You sit in the simulator, prepare for the circuit, drive there and set up the car in a certain way. And then you get to the circuit and that set-up doesn’t work,” lamented the record-holding Grand Prix winner, who currently sits second in the Drivers’ Championship standings.

Not a perfect tool for preparation

Oscar Piastri does not share the 41-year-old Briton’s view. The Australian McLaren star says of the simulators: “I find them useful. But I’m also from a different generation to Lewis. Of course, simulators have been used in Formula 1 for quite some time, but I understand that they’re not to everyone’s taste.”

“The current generation of cars is very complicated, and I find it quite helpful to do a few laps in the simulator; that applies to both the team and myself,” says the 25-year-old from Melbourne, who is currently seventh in the World Championship standings.

At the same time, the nine-time Grand Prix winner admits: “But everyone’s different in that respect. And simulators will never be perfect; they’ll never be the perfect tool, and they’ll never come close to driving a real car. As a driver, you work with the tools available to you – or not, if you think that’s better for you.”

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