Lewis Hamilton has prepared several dossiers outlining what he believes Ferrari needs to change, but according to Luigi Mazzola, the real problem may be identifying exactly who should receive those recommendations and turn them into action.
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has not limited himself to publicly highlighting some of Ferrari’s problems. He has also prepared documents containing specific observations on areas of the team that, based on his experience, he believes require intervention. Yet one question remains: who are those dossiers actually being sent to?
Luigi Mazzola questions where Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari dossiers should go
That question forms the starting point of Luigi Mazzola’s assessment in an exclusive interview with NewsF1.it. The former Ferrari engineer used particularly direct language to describe the situation.
“Clearly, Lewis Hamilton doesn’t know where to send these dossiers.”
The point, however, is not that Lewis Hamilton lacks ideas or that his recommendations have no value. According to Luigi Mazzola, the concern may instead lie with the technical structure that should receive those suggestions, assess them and transform them into concrete action.
Lewis Hamilton arrived at Ferrari after spending much of his career at Mercedes, where he had a very clear reference point in Toto Wolff. Luigi Mazzola believes that difference could be significant.
Lewis Hamilton was used to a clear reference point in Toto Wolff
Luigi Mazzola highlights an important distinction between the structure Lewis Hamilton knew at Mercedes and the environment he has encountered at Maranello.
Toto Wolff is not only Mercedes team principal but also a shareholder and a central figure within the organisation. According to Luigi Mazzola, he has a particularly strong presence and a considerable ability to understand what is happening inside the team.
That gives a driver such as Lewis Hamilton an obvious person to approach with problems, ideas and proposals. At Ferrari, Luigi Mazzola believes the situation may be different, potentially explaining why the British driver has felt the need to produce several dossiers in an attempt to encourage change.
The wider issue of how Ferrari should structure its leadership has already become a major talking point, including the debate over whether the team needs additional senior leadership around Frédéric Vasseur rather than simply another change at team-principal level.
Luigi Mazzola says Frédéric Vasseur may not be the problem
This is where Luigi Mazzola’s analysis becomes particularly significant. The former Ferrari engineer does not argue that Frédéric Vasseur himself is the problem. On the contrary, his interpretation is that Lewis Hamilton has probably recognised the team principal as someone with the necessary abilities to perform his role.
The concern may instead be what surrounds Frédéric Vasseur.
Luigi Mazzola suggests that Lewis Hamilton may have identified the need to strengthen certain positions within Ferrari’s structure in order to give the organisation the additional push it currently appears to lack.
That is a crucial distinction. The question is not simply whether Ferrari should change the person at the top, but whether Frédéric Vasseur has the right people around him to build a technical organisation genuinely capable of taking Ferrari back to consistent victories. The team principal has received backing from several senior Formula 1 figures, including Flavio Briatore’s defence of Frédéric Vasseur amid growing scrutiny around Ferrari.
Ferrari needs technical competence throughout its structure
For Luigi Mazzola, this is the central point. Leadership matters, but management alone cannot be enough in Formula 1. Ultimately, performance is determined by the car, and that car is designed, developed and improved by the technical departments.
That is why Luigi Mazzola insists on the importance of technical competence both at senior level and throughout the key departments. His criticism is therefore not aimed simply at management ability, but at the need to build a technical structure capable of producing a consistently competitive car.
This may also help explain Lewis Hamilton’s dossiers. The Briton has attempted to put in writing the aspects of Ferrari that, based on his experience, he believes are not functioning effectively.
Hamilton’s dossiers may be a symptom rather than the problem
According to Luigi Mazzola’s interpretation, the real question is not simply what Lewis Hamilton has written. It is who inside Ferrari is responsible for taking those observations and turning them into practical work.
If a driver feels the need to prepare detailed dossiers identifying where the team should intervene, it could indicate that internal communication is not operating as efficiently as it should. That does not necessarily mean people are failing to work hard.
Instead, Ferrari may lack a structure capable of collecting information, establishing priorities and rapidly converting feedback into technical development. That concern fits into a broader debate over whether Ferrari’s development process is operating quickly enough compared with its rivals, something that can be viewed through the Ferrari vs F1 Rivals statistics.
Luigi Mazzola compares Hamilton’s situation with Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari
Luigi Mazzola also draws a comparison with Ferrari during the Michael Schumacher era. That team had clearly defined reference points in Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and a highly structured technical organisation.
Michael Schumacher therefore had specific people he could approach. It was not simply about leadership; it was also about expertise, responsibilities and clearly established points of reference inside the team.
According to Luigi Mazzola, Lewis Hamilton may now find himself in a different situation. That could be one reason why the dossiers have taken on greater significance than they might initially appear to have.
What is Ferrari still missing to win consistently?
Luigi Mazzola does not necessarily believe Ferrari started from a fundamentally flawed car. The SF-26 is capable of remaining near the front and competing within gaps of only a few tenths, but that level of performance is not enough to win consistently.
The more important question therefore becomes what Ferrari is still missing. Luigi Mazzola implicitly encourages the Scuderia to examine the human and technological resources available within the organisation.
If the car is competitive enough to fight near the front but not consistently strong enough to win, the next step may not simply be another upgrade. Ferrari may instead need to identify which part of its technical structure must be reinforced.
Lewis Hamilton has already spoken about Ferrari’s technical strengths while also warning that its rivals have copied some of the team’s innovations while a power deficit remains, reinforcing the idea that the overall performance picture extends beyond one isolated component.
From that perspective, Lewis Hamilton’s dossiers could prove more important than they first appear. Not because the driver should be teaching Ferrari how to do its job, but because his experience may have allowed him to identify weaknesses that the team must decide how to address.
That leads back to Luigi Mazzola’s deliberately provocative observation: “Lewis Hamilton doesn’t know where to send these dossiers.” Before Ferrari even asks what is written inside those documents, it may first need to ensure it has a perfectly organised structure capable of reading them, discussing them and turning them into results.
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