Former Ferrari boss asks Lewis Hamilton to avoid Sebastian Vettel's grave error at the Italian team

Former Ferrari F1 team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has warned Lewis Hamilton against following in Sebastian Vettel's footsteps at the Italian team. Arrivabene expressed concern with the seven-time champion's action of sending documents back to the Scuderia's Maranello headquarters with suggestions to improve the team and the car.

Arrivabene was Ferrari's team principal from 2014 to 2019, and had Vettel as one of the team's drivers from 2015 to 2020. He highlighted that the four-time champin had the same habit of sending dossiers to the higher-ups at the team, but found it to be counter-productive, because he felt that a driver shouldn't interfere with an engineer's job of improving the car.

Speaking with Sky Sports Italy about Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari situation, Maurizio Arrivabene said (via GPBlog):

"It was Vettel who used to send the dossiers, he wrote, he talked, all of that. Was it useful? Not really. I’m not against Sebastian, but everyone needs to stick to their role. A driver’s job isn’t just to drive — it’s also to help develop the car. But if a driver starts acting like an engineer, then you’re in trouble."

Hamilton and Vettel had contrasting first seasons with Ferrari. The German driver joined the Scuderia in 2015 and hit the ground running with four podiums, including a win, in the first five races of the season. His run of podiums continued into the second half of the season, and he eventually finished third in the standings as Mercedes entered its dominant era.

Contrastingly, Lewis Hamilton, who was outclassing Vettel in that era in a Mercedes, hit rock bottom in 2025 with Ferrari. He concluded the season without a single podium finish in the Grand Prix format, an undesirable career first.

Lewis Hamilton's final message to Ferrari after season-ending Abu Dhabi F1 test

Lewis Hamilton at the 2025 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton drove his final laps in Ferrari's 2025 challenger, the SF25, at the post-season test at the Yas Marina Circuit on Tuesday, December 9. All 10 teams participated in the test, which was focused on testing Pirelli's 2026 tire range, and had many junior/reserve drivers in the cars.

Hamilton completed 73 laps across the test that lasted nine hours, with a fastest lap of 1:26.138, which was good enough for P11. The seven-time F1 champion penned a heartwarming message to his Ferrari squad for putting their best foot forward in the test, which came only two days after the grueling season-ending Abu Dhabi GP.

"Today we tested the new tires and completed our program, which helped us better understand their behavior," Hamilton said via Formulapassion. "It was a great learning opportunity, and overall it was a very positive day."

"I’m really grateful to all the guys in the garage for working hard during this last day of testing at the end of a long season, which was by no means easy. I’m proud of them because they gave it their all, and I’m grateful to them for sticking it out until the end of this day," the Briton added.

In the offseason, Lewis Hamilton plans to 'completely unplug from the matrix' and distance himself from racing. Though certain statements of his in the second half of the season have sounded retirement-y, the 40-year-old did confirm a couple of weeks ago that he's excited for the new generation of cars in 2026, ruling out an unexpected retirement announcement in the winter.