Lewis Hamilton raised three critical points in private Ferrari documents ahead of 2026 F1 season

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Lewis Hamilton is always one of the biggest talking points across any race weekend, and not always for what he does on the track.

The Belgian Grand Prix was another difficult event for Lewis Hamilton during his first Ferrari season.

However, the seven-time world champion provided a glimpse of the work he’s doing behind the scenes to help Fred Vasseur’s team return to their former glory.

Hamilton admitted that he had written some documents for Ferrari to study ahead of next season.

The 40-year-old is vastly experienced and brings a wealth of knowledge with him, acquired during his time at McLaren and Mercedes.

Hamilton has been trying to replicate the work he did at Mercedes since moving to Ferrari, but is quickly realising that it will be easier said than done.

Ferrari aren’t necessarily set in their ways, but the Scuderia are becoming more isolated from the rest of the paddock with virtually every other team based in the United Kingdom, where crossover of ideas and staff is more prominent.

Hamilton wrote three documents to the team over the previous break between races that he hopes will give him the opportunity to win an eighth drivers’ championship next season.

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Lewis Hamilton’s three Ferrari documents revealed

A report from the journalist Raymond Blancafort for Soy Motor has shared more details about the notes in question.

Vasseur is on his summer break this week, with teams required to take part in a two-week shutdown where work in the factory is prohibited.

Each team’s emails are monitored to make sure nothing is being done behind the scenes that would give a manufacturer an advantage over their rivals.

However, Blancafort believes that Vasseur needs to review ‘The Hamilton Papers’ as he calls them over the summer break to make sure the team are heading in the right direction.

The dossiers are said to contain notes on three topics: what Hamilton thinks of the current car, the organisation of the team itself, and what the ‘possible solutions’ for Ferrari’s issues might be.

It’s important to note that this wasn’t designed as a criticism of Ferrari’s management, especially with Hamilton defending Vasseur before his contract extension was agreed.

However, while Hamilton has been especially self-critical this year, he also recognises that the team need to match his level of ambition if they want to end their growing trophy drought.

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

Lewis Hamilton warned that Ferrari might follow Charles Leclerc’s lead for next season

No team ever designs a car for only one of their drivers, no matter what people say about Max Verstappen at Red Bull, for example.

However, if one driver is outperforming the other, then designers and engineers are more likely to listen to their feedback to try and maximise their performance.

Karun Chandhok warned Hamilton that Ferrari will look to the leading car when developing their 2026 machine.

At the moment, Charles Leclerc leads his more experienced teammate by 42 points in the drivers’ championship.

More worryingly for Hamilton, on the weekends when Leclerc has looked capable of scoring a podium, the British driver has only been in contention once, at the Austrian Grand Prix.

However, if Ferrari listen to Hamilton’s advice, then there’s no reason why both drivers can’t be challenging for podiums and victories next season.