'It’s helped me massively’ - Lewis Hamilton's major decision vindicated as impressive Ferrari stat revealed

Lewis Hamilton believes he has been firmly vindicated by his decision to stop using the Ferrari Formula 1 simulator in recent weeks.

Speaking ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix in May, the British racing driver revealed he had stopped using the simulator because he did not feel the correlation was right and that it had impacted his performances.

It appears to have been a masterstroke. In the races since then, the 41-year-old has outscored every other Formula 1 driver, including the Mercedes pair Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. Hamilton has recorded 96 points in the last five races, with Antonelli on 79 and Russell on 74 in the same time period.

Although there have been issues within Mercedes that have contributed to that tally, it has still required top driving from Hamilton to take advantage of the opportunity.

The seven-time world champion finished third at the British Grand Prix earlier this month and is well aware he will need another strong performance at the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend.

When asked if he had used the Ferrari simulator recently, he replied: "No." When asked if the decision had been beneficial, he added: "Massively. I tried all last year with it, but as I said, when I was at Mercedes for the first few years I didn't use it. As it continued to develop, there was a point where we didn't use it.

“I've been driving simulators since 1997 and they can be really powerful and really useful tools, but they can also mislead you. I found all last year, particularly that was the case, and then in previous years when I was at Mercedes it was very similar, so that's why I didn't use it. Since I stopped, my performance has gone much, much better.”

Hamilton previews Belgian GP

Hamilton sits third in the driver's championship this season, with just two races left before the summer break. He is still an outsider for the title behind the Mercedes duo, but is delighted to be racing in a car that can compete with the very best this season.

“On this track, it's very difficult,” he added. “This track is lots and lots of straights. We went to Silverstone and we thought that it was going to be much further down, the power, and it was quick through the corners, so it was far better than we anticipated.

“So, we come here again not really knowing what to expect, except for the track that is like 50% more straights. I think there still was a gap of maybe three or four tenths in the last race, so here we probably anticipate it will be a little bit more. But we're doing everything we can.

“In terms of just upgrades, I'm so proud of the team, they're just continuing to push to optimise the car. We're just making fine adjustments to it every week, which is great to see, rather than one upgrade coming several months later, another one’s coming every weekend, just improving little bits whenever we find something.”