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Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari relationship could be "over", warns former team chief
Maurizio Arrivabene has warned that Lewis Hamilton sending detailed "dossiers" to Ferrari could be a sign his relationship with the team is nearing breaking point
Lydia Mee
Published: Dec 16, 2025, 9:42 PM
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Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Mark Horsburgh
Former Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Maurizio Arrivabene believes that there could be a sign that Lewis Hamilton's relationship with the Maranello outfit could be "over".
The seven-time champion joined Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season and struggled to adapt to the new squad. In July, the Briton revealed that he had sent several documents to the team following the British Grand Prix in a push to help bring the team forward.
"I held a lot of meetings. So I've called on lots of lots of meetings with the heads of the team, so I've sat with John, Benedetto, and Fred [Vasseur] in several meetings," he said at the time.
"I've sat with the head of our car development, with Loic [Serra], also the heads of different departments talking about engine for next year, talking about front suspension for next year, talking about rear suspension for next year, things that you want, issues that I have with this car.
"I've sent documents, so I've done through the year. After the first few races, I did a full document for the team. Then during this break, I had another two documents that I sent in, so then I come in and want to address those."
Arrivabene discussed Hamilton's documents, drawing a comparison with four-time champion Sebastian Vettel's time at the squad between 2015 and 2020.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“Sebastian Vettel also sent such dossiers. He wrote, spoke and shared everything," Arrivabene, who served as team chief at Ferrari from 2014 to 2019, told Sky Sports Italy.
Arrivabene added that Vettel's documents were "almost useless".
"I don’t want to say anything bad about Sebastian, but everyone should mind their own business. When a driver starts playing engineer, that’s it. Then it’s really over.
"Drivers spend two or three days in the simulator and get a general impression, but the devil is in the details. When the car is on the track, the driver must provide relevant feedback so that the engineers can make targeted improvements – especially when there is potential."
Ferrari's head of track engineering, Matteo Togninalli, recently claimed that Hamilton's relationship with Ferrari is much less strained than it appears.
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