Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton says he doesn’t want Formula 1 team-mates to share data, feeling it isn’t fair.
A massive amount of data is gathered by F1 teams during a race weekend, but that information is made available to both drivers – meaning they can see exactly what’s been happening on the track.
If one driver finds a whole lot of time in a braking zone, or by taking a different line through a corner, that data is open to the person on the other side of the F1 garage too.
Three-time F1 champion Hamilton feels this isn’t right, saying he doesn’t’ want to see his team-mates data and doesn’t want the other driver to see the information he’s gathered too.
Here’s what he said in an interview with UBS:
“I go out, do my laps, do all my homework, [and] the other guy can see everything. I have asked my team. I don’t want to see my teammate’s. I don’t feel it’s fair that he brings his A-game and I should be able to study his A-game on a computer.
“For example, when we’re driving we’re picking out braking points, bumps, tyre rubber marks on the track, all these different things to help get you through the corner quickest. And the other driver probably naturally may be able to do more or less than you are.
“But because of this data they can just copy you. ‘Oh, he’s braking five metres later there, I’ll go out and I’ll try braking five metres later’. So, that’s what I really dislike, because it enables them to get closer. That’s what I loved about go-karting; you weren’t able to do that and that was where just your raw talent is able to shine.”
It’s definitely a controversial opinion, and he also admitted to feeling the access to data makes it too easy for young drivers to settle into F1 quickly and get right on the pace immediately.
Perhaps it’s a view he formed after sharing team data on Twitter a few years back…