Maurizio Arrivabene sharply criticizes Lewis Hamilton’s technical dossiers—the former team boss sees parallels with Sebastian Vettel and warns of the end.
Former Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene sees dark clouds gathering over the collaboration between Lewis Hamilton and the Scuderia. In his opinion, the seven-time world champion’s current behavior could be a sign that the relationship with the Maranello team is already “over” before it has really taken off.
Hamilton, who moved from Mercedes to Ferrari for the 2025 season, has struggled to adapt to his new employer. In July of this year, the Brit revealed that he had submitted several technical documents to the team after the British Grand Prix in order to advance the development of the car.
“I’ve had a lot of meetings. I’ve sat down with the team’s executives, with John [Elkann], Benedetto [Vigna], and Fred [Vasseur],” Hamilton explained at the time.
Hamilton’s technical analyses
The Brit went into great detail: “I sat down with the head of our vehicle development, Loic [Serra], and the heads of various departments and talked about next year’s engine, the front suspension, the rear suspension.”
It was about “things you want and problems I have with this car,” Hamilton continued. “I sent documents, which I did throughout the year. After the first few races, I put together a complete dossier for the team. During the break, I sent two more documents, which I would now like to address.”
For Arrivabene, who steered Ferrari’s fortunes from 2014 to 2019, such statements set off alarm bells. He draws a direct comparison to the era of Sebastian Vettel, who drove for the Reds between 2015 and 2020.
Arrivabene: Vettel’s dossiers were “useless”
“Sebastian Vettel also sent such dossiers. He wrote, spoke and shared everything,” Arrivabene reveals to Sky Sport Italia. However, the Italian’s verdict on these efforts is damning: the Heppenheim native’s documents were “almost useless.”
“I don’t want to say anything bad about Sebastian, but everyone should mind their own business,” the former team boss clarifies, adding: “When a driver starts playing engineer, that’s it. Then it’s really over.“
Arrivabene explains his stance: ”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 has to provide relevant feedback so that the engineers can make targeted improvements—especially when there is potential.”
Despite the doom and gloom from outside, attempts are being made internally to smooth the waters. Ferrari’s chief track engineer, Matteo Togninalli, recently emphasized that the relationship between Hamilton and Ferrari is far less tense than it appears.