Former Ferrari Boss: Hamilton's Documents Signal End of Relationship, Echo Vettel's 'Useless' Efforts

Former Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has declared Lewis Hamilton's relationship with the Scuderia "over," drawing a stark comparison to Sebastian Vettel's past attempts to guide the team, which he labeled "almost useless." This critique follows Hamilton's difficult debut season with Ferrari in 2025, where he failed to score a podium and finished 86 points behind teammate Charles Leclerc.

Why it matters:

Arrivabene's comments highlight a recurring and critical tension at Ferrari: the dynamic between star drivers seeking to influence car development and team operations, and the engineering corps tasked with executing it. Hamilton's proactive approach, intended to avoid the fate of champions like Vettel and Fernando Alonso who never won a title with Ferrari, is being framed by a former insider as a sign of dysfunction rather than leadership.

The details:

• Hamilton has submitted multiple detailed documents to Ferrari's engineering team, proposing changes to the car, inter-department communication, and race weekend execution.
• Arrivabene directly compared this to Sebastian Vettel's similar efforts during his own Ferrari tenure, stating the value of such driver input was "almost useless" and that "everyone should mind their own business."
• The former boss argues that when a driver "starts playing engineer, that's it. Then it’s really over," emphasizing that a driver's primary role is to give precise on-track feedback for engineers to act upon.
• This sentiment was recently echoed by Ferrari President John Elkann, who urged both Hamilton and Leclerc to "focus on driving" and "talk less" after a poor team result in Brazil.

The big picture:

Hamilton's challenging transition to Ferrari was always anticipated, but the public nature of his struggles and his method of attempting to correct them—through formal dossiers—has opened an old wound within the Ferrari narrative. The team has a history of champion drivers failing to clinch the ultimate prize, and Arrivabene's critique suggests Hamilton may be repeating a pattern of overreach that hampered Vettel. Ironically, Hamilton sought advice from Vettel before joining the team, even adopting his habit of taking handwritten notes.

What's next:

The pressure is mounting for Hamilton and Ferrari to find synergy. Vettel himself noted on the Beyond the Grid podcast that Hamilton needs "a lot of things to come together" for his Ferrari stint to succeed. The 2026 season, with a major regulation change on the horizon, represents a critical reset. Hamilton must either refine his collaborative approach with the team or risk his final career chapters being defined by the same frustrations that plagued his illustrious predecessors at Maranello.