I have this issue too. I’d love to hear your feedback on the new ones once you’ve ridden them a bit. It’s an expensive upgrade, but might be worth it.
Indeed, got a good deal for 1.200 Euro but that´s still utterly expensive.
But then again I spent north of 20h weekly on that bike over summer, so I can as well make it good 
I will report back.
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Bringing this thread back from the dead to see if the different levers solved your issue! I am also a relatively large and strong rider running the original rival AXS levers and have issues fitting my non-braking fingers underneath the levers due to the shape and reach of the shift paddles. If I roll my wrists inward a bunch i able to grip the bar behind the paddles with ring and pinky and fully brake with index and middle, but its a weird angle and not very comfortable.
I’ll just add that since this thread started, the “one finger” E1 Red braking has trickled down to E1 Force and Rival. As far as hoods vs. drops on technical terrain, I’m still figuring that stuff out. I like the drops when it gets really chunky downhill, but I like the hoods everywhere else. And when it’s up and down stuff, I’m often switching back and forth (which never feels great).
Where that one finger is make a big diff for me. On the hoods, my braking finger(s) are near the tops of the levers where there’s little leverage. In the drops (technically more forward in the hooks), my one finger is near the end of the lever where there’s a lot of leverage. On a related note, I went from a bar with very little flare to one with 24 deg flare with the ends of the drops swept outward 12 deg and found I had much better control riding/descending in the drops, particularly on rough, loose, sketchy surfaces.
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The new (well, not so new by now anymore) are a must upgrade for hood grip descenders, imho.
Sometimes I step on my wifes bike which still has the old lever design and I would not do any major descends on that on the hoods.
On my bike I can descend the roughest terrain (the bike supports) on the hoods using one finger. It’s not an MTB brake by far, but it works.
googling hood grip descender I’m coming up empty handed, can you tell me more? is it like an attachment?
Im a descending wuss and do all of my descending on the hoods both on and off road.
I’m more of a wuss than you but I always have my hands in the drops. Maybe it’s the potholes and road surfaces near me but I’m often worried that if I only had my hands on the hoods, if I hit a big bump 5en my hands might slip off. In the drops it can’t happen.
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