Lewis Hamilton wants Ferrari to introduce ‘essential’ policy Laurent Mekies has brought to Red Bull

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Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari need to make changes if they want to ‘achieve greatness’ in Formula 1. It’s a point he made on social media after Singapore, and in team meetings at Maranello.

Hamilton is confident that Ferrari are making ‘progress’, but that is ‘not enough’ at a team of this stature. Fred Vasseur’s squad are approaching a winless season and could slip out of the top three in the constructors’.

A report on Monday claimed that Hamilton has sent a report to Ferrari’s ‘top brass’ detailing further improvements that must be made. He’s said in a press conference earlier this year that the team weren’t ‘firing on all cylinders’ and that he had to challenge them in ‘every area’.

In Singapore, Hamilton told the media that his engineers weren’t optimising sessions due to operational errors, adding: “We will talk in the background.”

Lewis Hamilton wants Ferrari to place greater emphasis on driver feedback

According to a report from FUnoAnalisiTecnica, Hamilton’s recent comments have been carefully thought out. He wanted the ‘entire world’ to know about the ‘rather sensitive topic’.

The publication has learned that Hamilton has indeed had the promised meetings with ‘relevant stakeholders’ prior to the race in Austin. He laid out the ‘corrections’ the team must make based on the notes he’s taken during race weekends.

One of these is placing a greater emphasis on driver feedback, which he regards as an ‘essential step’. At the moment, he feels the team are too reliant on data when making decisions, rather than taking his opinions into ‘proper consideration’.

Hamilton has been comfortably outperformed by teammate Charles Leclerc this season, but he retains a unique stature in the sport as the most successful driver ever. He will hope that gives him a louder voice within Ferrari.

Laurent Mekies has already introduced this policy at Red Bull

After Laurent Mekies replaced Christian Horner, Helmut Marko said Red Bull started using their ‘common sense’ more often. They no longer ‘relied entirely’ on their simulations.

Verstappen felt he wasn’t being listened to earlier this year, but now the team are being led by his ‘observations’ more often. He has recently been allowed to take mechanical or strategic gambles that have delivered race wins.

And this has put Red Bull on an opposite trajectory to Ferrari. The Milton Keynes outfit looked destined to finish fourth, but they’re now just eight points behind the Prancing Horse.

Whether or not he’s been directly inspired by Mekies’ early success, Hamilton clearly wants Ferrari to make a similar change to their philosophy. As the Frenchman shows, this can be implemented quickly, and potentially to great effect.