Ferrari must listen to Lewis Hamilton to avoid sleepwalking into the same mistake Mercedes made

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Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton must prevent his new team from making the same mistake as Mercedes towards the end of his time with the Silver Arrows.

Lewis Hamilton currently sits sixth in the drivers’ championship, which would be the third time in the last four years that he’s finished outside the top five in the standings.

Before 2022, Hamilton’s worst position in the drivers’ championship was fifth during his time with McLaren, but the ground effect era of Formula 1 hasn’t been kind to the seven-time world champion.

During his time with Mercedes, Hamilton was unstoppable, winning six out of seven championships at one point and only denied by Nico Rosberg in 2016.

Rosberg and Hamilton’s rivalry was vicious, but it highlighted Hamilton’s skill and guile until poor reliability contributed to his run of championship wins coming to an end.

However, his final few years at Mercedes didn’t go to plan, and Hamilton’s first year at Ferrari has started in a similar vein.

Team principal Fred Vasseur has been working closely with the 40-year-old and needs to take one of his requests seriously to avoid falling into the same trap as Mercedes.

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Ferrari must listen to Lewis Hamilton and switch focus to 2026 immediately to avoid Mercedes error

A report from Formula Uno Analisi Tecnica has shared more details about Ferrari’s plans for the rest of 2025.

It’s hard to overlook how frustrating this season has been for the Scuderia.

There’s a good chance that Hamilton and Charles Leclerc deliver another second-place finish in the constructors’ championship.

However, last year, Ferrari took the fight with McLaren to the final day, whereas this season, Andrea Stella’s team could secure the title at the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Ferrari engineers are worried their rear suspension update hasn’t worked as expected, leaving the team without a hope of winning a race in 2025.

Hamilton delivered a set of documents to Vasseur to tell him where he believes Ferrari need to improve and change if they want to become title contenders next year.

However, the likes of Williams, Aston Martin and Alpine have spent all season preparing for F1’s regulations changes in 2026, while Ferrari have continued to work on the SF-25 throughout the campaign.

The report from F1AT suggests Ferrari have an ‘issue of funding’ which has been dealt with in ‘stifling secrecy’ which they suggest might explain the blue merchandise being sold at the Italian Grand Prix.

They go on to say that the 40-year-old’s F1 knowledge ‘cannot be questioned’ and so the fact Hamilton told Ferrari several months ago to concentrate on their 2026 car is now being brought into focus.

Ferrari winning one or two races between now and the end of the season makes very little difference in the long run, and so Vasseur has to listen to Hamilton and end all their work on the 2025 car immediately.

Otherwise, they’ll end up making the same mistake as Mercedes, who F1AT suggest didn’t listen to Hamilton for ‘a year and a half to abandon the zero pod project’ when they could have been focused elsewhere.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Lewis Hamilton tells Drive to Survive about his Mercedes zero pod concerns

During season six of Drive to Survive, Hamilton detailed his frustrations with Mercedes not listening to his feedback.

He said: “I remember complaining to the team and being like, ‘Look, we have to make these changes, otherwise this is the trajectory we’re going to go on and this is where we’re going to end up.

“Please, please do something about it. I remember they said, ‘We know what we’re doing, you’re wrong.’

“And that was definitely an interesting moment. I was like, ‘OK, I’ll step back, don’t want to step on anybody’s toes.’

“Then when we got into the season, then we spoke again [they said] ‘oh, maybe you were right’.”

Hamilton has been forthright with his opinions on Ferrari’s 2025 car and will be hard at work behind the scenes to make sure the Scuderia don’t repeat the mistakes he warned Mercedes about earlier in his career.