“Since I’ve been there, I’ve had a lot of input in some of this evolution and they’ve been really [responsive] and made loads and loads of changes and we’ve just been improving it,” said Hamilton.
However, the seven-time champion emphasized that simulator variables do not always correlate perfectly with real asphalt conditions.
“[But] with simulation, I feel that the goalposts are always moving. I started driving the simulator in 1997, the first simulator, I would say, at McLaren.
The cockpit didn’t move but we had force feedback in the steering, and I remember it was at Woking, at McLaren’s old factory,” said Hamilton.
He recalled his progression through junior categories and early Formula 1 seasons regarding virtual training.
“Then when it moved to the first ‘real’ gen, they let me sometimes use it when I was in GP2 [in 2006].
Then at McLaren, we used it relatively often. I didn’t particularly enjoy it, because they were long days and a lot of laps.
There’s a point at which you stop learning when you’re doing so many laps, for me personally,” said Hamilton.
Hamilton revealed that his dominant years with Mercedes featured very little simulator intervention.
“Then when I joined Mercedes, they were quite far off with the sim at the time.
I didn’t use it in all the championships that we won, barely used the simulator, very rarely.
Then in 2020, maybe 2021, I started to use it a little bit more,” said Hamilton.
He referenced a rare historical instance where his simulator setup translated perfectly to a race weekend.
