Lewis Hamilton has pinpointed a surprising culprit behind Ferrari's underwhelming performance at the Miami Grand Prix—and it's not the car itself, but the team's simulator.

The seven-time world champion crossed the finish line in sixth place, while teammate Charles Leclerc trailed in eighth after Ferrari rolled out what many described as "half of a new car" for the weekend. Expectations were sky-high that the Scuderia would close the gap on Mercedes, especially with all the rumored upgrades. Instead, it was Red Bull and McLaren—teams that had been trailing Ferrari—who made the biggest strides forward.

Hamilton struggled once again in qualifying, and he believes the root of the problem lies in the disconnect between the simulator and the actual track. "If I'm honest, I think the simulator really sends me the wrong direction," Hamilton admitted. "I think I might cut that out for now and give it a run without."

The disconnect has been a recurring theme. "We go on it, and then get to the track—and the car feels different when you get to a track," he explained. "You prepare, you drive it, you get the car set-up to a certain place—and then you come to the track and that set-up doesn't work."

In a sprint weekend format, where there's only one practice session before qualifying, that mismatch becomes a major handicap. "You don't really want to veer off from your set-up too far, like with a big suspension change, so you stay with it. Then you make a change going into qualifying and you've only got six laps to get on top of it."

Despite the qualifying woes, Hamilton showed strong race pace in Miami and felt he could have finished higher—even after being hit by Franco Colapinto's Alpine. "In an ideal world, I should have started where Charles was at the beginning of the weekend, and I think we would have just had a stronger weekend from there on."

Looking ahead, Hamilton plans to skip the simulator entirely in the lead-up to the next race, hoping that a fresh, hands-on approach will help him and Ferrari unlock the car's true potential. For fans of the sport and those tracking the latest in racing gear, this is a reminder that even the most advanced technology can sometimes lead teams astray—and that sometimes, going back to basics is the fastest way forward.