Lewis Hamilton the advisor: his impact at Ferrari goes beyond the track. Perhaps more than on track (for now), the work and influence of Lewis Hamilton are being felt behind the scenes at Maranello..

Struggles on Track
In the first nine races of 2025, his first at the wheel of a Ferrari, it’s undeniable that Lewis Hamilton has shown more shadows than highlights. His adaptation to the SF-25 has not been optimal, and the British champion has essentially only stood out in the two Sprints, with a win in China and a third place in Miami. The comparison with Charles Leclerc is merciless: currently, he trails 94–71 in the standings, 7–1 in races, and 7–2 in qualifying.

Plenty of Advice Behind the Scenes
In an interview given in Imola to Sky Italia, Lewis Hamilton explained how he’s tried to transfer his experience (six years at McLaren and twelve at Mercedes) to help improve the team: “At Maranello we have a fantastic simulator, but since I arrived, I’ve suggested pages and pages of things I thought needed improvement. And we’re working on it, we’re continuously working to get better, and the guys have already made some progress. Then the correlation between wind tunnel and track is very good — I’ve been in teams where that wasn’t the case, while in this area Ferrari is very advanced.”

Likewise, during the Barcelona weekend, Lewis Hamilton emphasized: “Soon I’ll tell the team it’s time to focus on next year. This season is about building a foundation, getting to know the tools in terms of structure and processes, and refining them so that when 2026 arrives, we’ll have the car we really want.”
Words of a leader, despite the results.

All statements that align with what his father, Anthony Hamilton, told Canal Plus in Australia at the start of the season: “We’re going to rebuild this team, not just for ourselves, but for Ferrari, for Italy, for all the fans. This is exciting.”

In short, Lewis Hamilton is more than just a driver for Ferrari — he’s a sort of super consultant for the team’s growth. And, not a minor detail, he has a direct line to president John Elkann…

And Leclerc Too…
Charles Leclerc has also acknowledged the value of Lewis’s advice to the team: “He comes to Ferrari with a lot of experience from different teams. He came from a different culture, the German one, which compared to ours — the Italian one — has many different ways of working. There are similarities in some areas, but I’d say more differences than similarities. So it’s very interesting to hear Lewis speak about the areas where we need to improve our working methods.”

On this note, a reflection on Charles Leclerc is appropriate. For months it was said that Lewis Hamilton’s arrival would be an opportunity for the Monegasque driver to grow. And it probably already has been, though more off-track than on. He has observed how a driver operates — even politically. He’s taken notes and then acted.

The decisions Charles Leclerc made in Q3 at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona were those of a charismatic driver — both in saving a set of medium tyres for the race and in the timing of his single lap, not done at the end of the session — ready to take responsibility head-on. As he already had earlier in the season, when in Jeddah, Charles Leclerc chose to go in a different direction than his teammate in terms of setup, to extract the maximum from the SF-25, and succeeded.

And finding a Charles Leclerc who is even stronger — perhaps at his absolute peak — and even more charismatic is certainly not bad news for the Ferrari world. What’s “only” missing is a championship-worthy car.