Lewis Hamilton calls for less software reliance in F1 as he highlights “real frustration”
Lewis Hamilton has voiced his frustration over Formula 1’s increasing reliance on software, arguing that drivers are being unfairly penalised by complex energy management systems rather than being rewarded for raw pace.
Speaking to Neil deGrasse Tyson on the StarTalk podcast during the Miami Grand Prix weekend, the seven-time champion shed light on the challenges presented by the series’ technical regulations.
“It’s really hard for fans to fully understand it, and it’s hard for us to understand it because the ultimate goal when you’re driving a Formula 1 car is to push the car to the limit,” the Ferrari driver explained.
“The faster you take a corner, hopefully you should be up on your time compared to others. And right now, with what we have, because we have a limited amount of battery, when you’re off power, you’re charging the battery, when you’re on power, you’re using power.”
However, due to limited battery capacity and the necessity of charging, drivers are facing counterintuitive scenarios.
“We have less charge this year because they took away the MGU-H that we had last year, which is too confusing. So, basically, if you take the high-speed fast, if you’re more committed and you take more risk and you go faster through a corner, you get penalised afterwards because you don’t charge enough.”
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Madring
He added: “Like yesterday, I was losing three-tenths of a second just because the software wasn’t doing its job. I didn’t know until I came back to my engineers. I was like, ‘I’m sorry, I’m slow,’ and they’re like, ‘You’re not slow, the software wasn’t working.’ So that’s a real frustration because back in the day, they didn’t have that. We need less.”
After the first nine rounds of the 2026 season, Hamilton sits third in the drivers’ championship behind leader Kimi Antonelli and the Italian’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell.
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