25/07/2025 11:10
Lewis Hamilton has revealed he has held a series of meetings with
senior Ferrari bosses after preparing documents on where the team
must improve. Hamilton's time with Ferrari has largely been
underwhelming in his first half-season, and he remains without a
grand prix podium after 12 races, although he did win the China
sprint and finish third in the shorter Miami race. The Briton has
been struggling with a number of areas of the SF-25, including
engine braking, and the brakes themselves after switching to Brembo
materials from the Carbon Industrie equipment Mercedes uses, but a
breakthrough has been made in recent weeks. This came after
Hamilton moved towards Charles Leclerc's set-up, and has
out-qualified the Monegasque in three of the last four races, and
was within a tenth in Austria. Following a fourth-place finish at
Silverstone, F1 embarked on a two-week break before the Belgian
Grand Prix, during which time, Hamilton revealed the meetings he
held with senior Ferrari figures, including chairman John Elkann,
CEO Benedetto Vigna and team boss Fred Vasseur over documents he
had prepared. "I was at the factory [across the] two weeks, a
couple of days each week, Hamilton explained to media , including
RacingNews365. "We did preparation—going over where we were at the
previous race, things that we need to change, I held a lot of
meetings. "So I've called on lots of meetings with the heads of the
team. I've sat with John, Benedetto, and Fred in several
meetings. "I've sat with the head of our car development, with
Loïc [Serra], and also the heads of different departments — talking
about the engine for next year, the front suspension, the rear
suspension, things that I want, and issues that I have with this
car. "I've sent documents. So, throughout the year, after the first
few races, I did a full document for the team. Then, during this
break, I had another two documents that I sent in, and then I came
in and wanted to address those. "Some of it is structural
adjustments that we need to make as a team in order to get better
in all the areas we want to improve, and the other one was really
about the car—the current issues that I have, some things that I do
want to take on to next year's car, and some that we need to work
on changing. "We did development, and tried the 2026 car for the
first time and started work on that. "Thirty engineers come into
the room, and you sit and debrief with every single one of them, so
it is a big, big push."