Lewis Hamilton follows in Sebastian Vettel’s footsteps with key Ferrari change
Image credit: Scuderia Ferrari
It emerged last month that Lewis Hamilton repeatedly called Sebastian Vettel for advice ahead of his Ferrari test debut at Fiorano.
And the former Mercedes driver appears to have taken inspiration from the four-time World Champion by taking notes in between test runs with his new team.
Sebastian Vettel influence spotted as Lewis Hamilton seen taking notes at Ferrari
Hamilton is gearing up for his first season as a Ferrari driver, having joined the team on a multi-year contract from F1 2025.
The seven-time World Champion received a warm reception during his first public appearance at the team’s Maranello factory in January, culminating in his Ferrari test debut at the nearby Fiorano test track.
Hamilton’s preparations for the new season suffered a setback last week when he crashed out of Ferrari’s second private test of the winter at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the home of F1’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Analysis: Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari from Mercedes for F1 2025
👉 Lewis Hamilton now finally has a chance to escape the ghosts of Abu Dhabi 2021
👉 Four reasons why Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari makes so much sense
The 40-year-old is expected to return to the Barcelona track over the course of a two-day Pirelli tyre test starting today (Tuesday) to assist the manufacturer’s development of the new tyres for 2026.
It will see Hamilton get a race chance to drive Ferrari’s 2024 car, with the team producing a modified version of last year’s SF-24 chassis to simulate the downforce and performance levels expected from the new-for-2026 machinery.
Reports from Italy last month claimed that Hamilton frequently called Vettel over the phone in the weeks leading up to his Ferrari test debut for advice and to ‘compare notes’ with the former Red Bull and Aston Martin driver.
And Vettel’s influence appears to have rubbed off on Hamilton, who has been spotted making handwritten notes over the course of his first two Ferrari tests.
Video footage and imagery released by Ferrari and Hamilton over recent weeks have shown the seven-time World Champion taking notes in between on-track runs.
Vettel, who retired at the end of 2022, was frequently spotted writing in a notebook in the garage over the course of his illustrious career, with the German renowned for his sharp intellect and attention to detail.
Asked about his note taking in 2020, Vettel revealed that he has a shelf stacked at home with old notebooks from his F1 career stretching back to his debut season with Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso in 2007.
He said: “I love taking notes.
“I now take some digital notes with an iPad, but I prefer just pen and paper. When you write with a pen, it’s like writing it in your head, you remember it.
“If you do it digitally, it can get lost because I’m not very tidy. But if I write it down, I keep it.
“I’m not going to throw the notebooks away. In fact, I still have notebooks from 2007 and later years.
“They’re no longer useful, but they’re still there. They’re all stacked up on a shelf.”
More on Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari
Ferrari finally confirmed last month that Hamilton will work with Riccardo Adami, Vettel’s former race engineer at Ferrari, in F1 2025.
Reports last year claimed that Hamilton had approached Vettel to gain an initial impression of Adami, with the German providing a glowing endorsement of his former race engineer.
Adami most recently served as race engineer to Hamilton’s predecessor Carlos Sainz, who was signed as Vettel’s replacement by Ferrari ahead of the 2021 season.
Sainz has joined Williams for F1 2025 with the Spaniard taking to the track with his new team in Barcelona on Sunday, just four days after Hamilton’s crash at the same venue.
Vettel claimed 14 race victories in six seasons at Ferrari between 2015 and 2020, missing out on the title to Hamilton in closely fought contests in 2017/18.
Read next: Lewis Hamilton gets immediate redemption shot as third Ferrari test approaches
