Lewis Hamilton has provided a few more details regarding the documents he has been compiling for Ferrari this season, as the seven-time World Champion pushes to help the legendary team end their title drought.
Hamilton is just over halfway into his first campaign with the Scuderia and, alongside an up-and-down run on the track, he has been working hard in the background to give his new squad as many pointers as possible for the future.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, the 40-year-old Briton revealed that this included making thorough notes that have been sent to relevant departments, with lengthy, championship-winning stints at McLaren and Mercedes to draw on.
Asked about his preparations for that Spa-Francorchamps weekend, Hamilton explained: “I was at the factory, a couple of days in each week. We did preparation for… naturally you’re going over where we were in the previous race, things that we need to change.
“I hold a lot of meetings, so I’ve called on lots of meetings with the heads of the team. I’ve sat with John [Elkann, Ferrari Chairman], Benedetto [Vigna, Ferrari CEO] and Fred [Vasseur, Ferrari F1 team boss], several meetings.
“I’ve sat with the head of our car development, with Loic [Serra], but also with the heads of different departments, talking about the engine for next year, talking about front suspension for next year, talking about rear suspension for next year, things that you want, issues that you have with the car.”
He then revealed: “I’ve sent documents. I’ve done [that] through the year. After the first few races I did a full document for the team, then during this break [between races] I had another two documents that I sent in and so they would come in and want to address those.
“Some of it’s structural, adjustments that we need to make as a team in order to get better in all the areas that we want to improve. Then the other one was really about the car, the current issues that I have with this car, some things that you do want to take onto next year’s car and some that you need to work on and change for next year.”
At the subsequent Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, Hamilton was asked to follow up on those comments, whether the documents took the form of PowerPoint, Word or Excel files, and what is included.
“I can’t really tell you,” Hamilton initially smiled, as he pondered what to share. “Everyone seems to be asking about them, but it’s just a Word document.”
Asked if the notes within those Word documents have been positive or negative, or a mixture of both, Hamilton replied: “Again… I think all I can say is that the team has every ingredient that they need to win. They have every ingredient they need to win World Championships.
“It’s literally just about getting things all aligned and running smoothly and freely, stress-free, which we’re all trying to do.”
As touched on above, Ferrari’s last world title came in 2008, when they won the Teams’ Championship, while Kimi Raikkonen remains the squad’s last Drivers’ Champion with his triumph in the previous season.
After 14 rounds of 24 in 2025, Hamilton sits sixth in the Drivers’ Standings, one place behind team mate Charles Leclerc, while their combined efforts have put Ferrari second to McLaren in the Teams’ battle.