Lewis Hamilton has revealed the ongoing tyre problems he is enduring only applies to the ultra-soft compound.
The British driver is at the factory in Brackley in an effort to find a solution ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix next weekend, where the purple-marked rubber will again be used.
It follows two disappointing results at the last two races it was used, a fourth in Sochi and seventh in Monaco, compared to team-mate Valtteri Bottas who won in Russia and finished fourth in Monte Carlo.
“This issue with the tyres is a bit of an unknown,” he was quoted by Crash.net, “it’s only the ultra-soft that’s been an issue. That’s really what got I have got to try and understand with the team this week.
“There’s so many things we have got to look into to try and understand why one car could make it work and the other couldn’t. Whether it’s multiple laps, whether it’s backing off, utilising the fronts more than the rears, whether it’s making a more understeering car, an oversteering car, all these different things, brake balance, all these different things, we need to start looking into.”
The problems are also badly impacting Hamilton’s championship chances with Sebastian Vettel currently 25 points clear of the three-time world champion. Add to that, the durability of the 2017 Pirelli tyres also likely mean the softest compounds will be used more frequently and the urgency to start optimising the performance becomes clearer.
“It’s definitely going to be a difficult one,” Lewis claimed. “I really, really hope we get on top of that as soon as we get on top of that ultra-soft then I think that it puts us in a much better position to attack, an undercut and that’s what we really need.
Focusing on next weekend’s race, he added: “Montreal has been a great hunting ground for me in the past and I plan for it to continue. We are going to work very, very hard in the next two weeks to make sure the car is in a place to make sure we are ahead of those Ferraris.”