Lewis Hamilton has reached a critical point in his first season with Scuderia Ferrari, and in his determined effort to reverse the team’s fortunes, he has taken a step that even the legendary Michael Schumacher never took during his tenure in Maranello.
After fulfilling his lifelong ambition of driving for Ferrari at the start of the 2025 Formula 1 season, the 40-year-old British driver has endured a campaign that has turned into a frustrating and prolonged struggle. What began with excitement and high hopes has since evolved into one of the most difficult starts to a season in Lewis Hamilton’s career.
The seven-time Formula 1 World Champion has now completed twelve rounds of the 2025 season without achieving a single podium finish in a Grand Prix—an unprecedented drought in his storied career, particularly at this stage of a championship. Not even during his debut seasons at McLaren or in the early hybrid era with Mercedes did Hamilton experience such a barren stretch. Ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, a circuit where he claimed his last win with Mercedes the previous year, Hamilton has amassed only 103 points—his lowest total after twelve rounds since Formula 1 introduced its current points system back in 2010.
Among those points, 14 have come from Sprint events, including a Sprint race victory in China and a third-place finish in Miami. However, those isolated successes have done little to lift the overall trajectory of his campaign.
In a bid to accelerate Ferrari’s path back to championship contention, Hamilton has reportedly presented the team with a level of internal critique and operational feedback that, according to Italian outlet Corriere della Sera, surpasses anything voiced during Michael Schumacher’s era between 1996 and 2006. The publication suggests that Hamilton’s intention is to position himself not just as a driver, but as a reformer capable of reshaping how the team functions across the board.
Ferrari signed Hamilton on a £39 million per year deal extending through the 2026 season, with an option for 2027, believing that his experience and leadership, paired with Charles Leclerc’s speed, could deliver the team its first drivers’ title since Kimi Räikkönen’s triumph in 2007 and its first constructors’ championship since 2008. But the former Mercedes driver has identified fundamental issues that go well beyond car performance.
According to Corriere della Sera, Hamilton has taken it upon himself to compile exhaustive feedback on Ferrari’s operational shortcomings. He is said to be documenting everything from technical inefficiencies to the team’s internal communication and development processes. These insights have been recorded in a personal notebook that he has maintained since his very first week with the team back in January—detailing every discrepancy he noticed between Ferrari and his previous experience at Mercedes, which spanned from 2013 to 2024 and yielded six world titles.
This systematic approach, involving technical evaluations, procedural notes, and summaries of engineering meetings, is reminiscent of the methodical habits of former Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel. The report notes that Vettel also maintained a similar notebook during his stint at the team, and engineers reportedly “feared” the German’s thorough feedback and endless debriefs. It remains unclear how Ferrari’s current technical staff will respond to Hamilton’s detailed reports, especially considering the depth of his comparison with Mercedes, a team where he won 84 of his 105 career victories and claimed 77 pole positions.
What sets Hamilton’s approach apart is not only his meticulous documentation but the fact that he has formally submitted structured reports—described as “documents”—to the Ferrari technical team outlining the specific areas where he believes changes are urgently needed. These reports reportedly call for wide-ranging adjustments, including improvements to the car’s setup, changes aligned with the incoming 2026 technical regulations, and crucially, structural reforms in how the Scuderia operates internally.
Hamilton is said to have addressed issues concerning both the front and rear suspension of the SF-25 car, as well as other handling characteristics that have limited performance across various circuits. The first of these documents was submitted after the initial rounds of the championship, with two more reports reportedly sent during the break following the British Grand Prix.
Even though Ferrari appointed Riccardo Adami as Hamilton’s new race engineer for 2025—after Peter Bonnington remained with Mercedes—the British driver has worked tirelessly to communicate his concerns and solutions as clearly and constructively as possible. The detailed documentation was intended to bridge the gap between driver feedback and engineering execution, highlighting his commitment to contributing far beyond his duties behind the wheel.
By taking this assertive and detailed approach, Lewis Hamilton has demonstrated his willingness to confront the team’s challenges head-on and influence change at an organizational level. Unlike Michael Schumacher, who was instrumental in shaping Ferrari’s golden era but did so more through on-track performance and behind-the-scenes influence, Hamilton is using a transparent, documented method to drive transformation.
Whether Ferrari’s leadership and engineering staff will embrace Hamilton’s reformist stance remains to be seen. But what is clear is that the British driver is determined not to let his dream of racing in red become a missed opportunity. Instead, he is pushing to leave a lasting legacy at Maranello—one that could reshape the team’s future trajectory and perhaps bring Ferrari back to the top of Formula 1.
