Follow us on Google Discover Lewis Hamilton is growing frustrated at Ferrari as he called for major changes to their operation in Maranello.
The seven-time champion has struggled to adapt to his new car and environment in 2025. Besides winning the Sprint race in China and finishing on the podium in the Miami Sprint, Hamilton has been largely uncompetitive at Ferrari.
The 40-year-old is without a Grand Prix podium this season, which would be a first in his F1 career. He has not found the right balance with the SF-25, nor have Ferrari, whose upgrades in 2025 have not fixed their issues.
Position Drivers’ Championship PointsPts 1 336 2 314 3 273 4 237 5 173 6 127 7 88 8 70 9 39 10 37
Ride height problems have plagued Ferrari all year, with the team’s radical rear suspension change at Spa not giving them any improvements. The team took a difficult direction to what the drivers wanted, with Charles Leclerc and Hamilton calling for aerodynamic upgrades.
Ferrari are now in crisis as several departments’ relationships are ‘strained’ over their poor results. Hamilton sent documents to Ferrari over the summer break as he called for changes to the operation, but he has had a hard time getting them implemented.
Photo by Xavier Bonilla/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesLewis Hamilton is suffering the same problem with Ferrari ‘internal politics’ as Sebastian Vettel
Team principal Fred Vasseur has refused to call for major changes for fear of upsetting chairman John Elkann. The Ferrari boss has been critical of the Frenchman in the past; the situation has only angered the seven-time champion further.
Hamilton has sent another report to Ferrari, demanding changes internally. In a report from Corriere della Sera, the Brit has emphasised the team’s shortcomings with upgrades and track engineering, referencing the progress Mercedes have made in recent races.
Hamilton ‘expected to have more influence on the decisions’ when he joined Ferrari, but he has instead found himself suffering from ‘internal politics’ as the team ignore his requests.
This is a similar situation to what Sebastian Vettel struggled with during his time in Maranello. The four-time champion was forced to play second fiddle to Leclerc in 2019, which ultimately led to his departure a year later.
But while Vettel struggled with politics at Ferrari, he at least had a ‘limited but solid car within a team equipped to seize opportunities when they arose’ during his first season in 2015. This is not the case for Hamilton a decade later.
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Photo by Jayce Illman/Getty ImagesLewis Hamilton is refusing to be like Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari
While Hamilton was sending documents to Ferrari, he made it clear that he intends to fight for a world championship with the team. He does not want to end up like Vettel or Fernando Alonso, who failed to secure titles with the Maranello outfit.
“I see a huge amount of potential within this team,” said Hamilton via RaceFans. “The passion: nothing comes close to that.
“But it’s a huge organisation, and there are a lot of moving parts. And not all of them are firing on all the cylinders that they need to be. That’s ultimately why the team has not had the success that I think it deserves.
“So I feel that it’s my job to challenge absolutely every area, to challenge everybody in the team. Particularly the guys that are at the top who are making the decisions.
“If you look at the team over the last 20 years, they’ve had amazing drivers: Kimi [Raikkonen]*, Fernando [Alonso], Sebastian [Vettel] – all world champions. However, they didn’t win a world championship [at Ferrari]. And for me, I refuse for that to be the case with me.”