‘Novice’ Lewis Hamilton urged to call Sebastian Vettel to ‘wriggle out of this’ at Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel has been a keen supporter of Lewis Hamilton behind the scenes
Lewis Hamilton could approach Sebastian Vettel for advice in a bid to “wriggle out” of his desperate situation at Ferrari.
That is the opinion of Francesco Cigarini, the former Ferrari mechanic, who believes Hamilton is being made to “look like a novice” by Charles Leclerc, who did the same to Vettel across 2019/20.
Could Sebastian Vettel help rescue Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari career?
Hamilton has had a disappointing start to his Ferrari career since his high-profile move from Mercedes over the winter, failing to reach the podium in his first 14 appearances for his new team.
The seven-time World Champion hit a new low at the recent Hungarian Grand Prix, where he could only manage 12th on the grid on a day Leclerc claimed Ferrari’s first pole position of the F1 2025 season.
Hamilton cut a dejected figure in Budapest, repeatedly referring to himself as “useless” and suggesting that Ferrari should consider replacing him.
Lewis Hamilton vs Charles Leclerc: Ferrari head-to-head scores for F1 2025
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
The 40-year-old also hinted at trouble behind the scenes at Maranello, adding: “There’s a lot going on in the background that’s not great.”
Vettel was convincingly outperformed by Leclerc over the course of the 2019 season, with the four-time World Champion leaving Ferrari at the end of the following year.
And Cigarini, the mechanic best known for breaking his leg in a pit-lane incident with Kimi Raikkonen at the 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix, believes Hamilton is also suffering at the hands of Leclerc.
He told Sky Italy: “Leclerc prefers a very sharply tuned car, with the rear end being very free and requiring a lot of feeling.
“When Vettel tried to copy that setup, he ended up looking like a novice.
“I think that’s exactly what’s happening with Hamilton now.”
Cigarini went on to suggest that Hamilton could approach Vettel for advice in his bid to rescue his Ferrari career, adding: “I wouldn’t be surprised if Hamilton calls Vettel to try to wriggle out of this.”
Despite Cigarini’s suggestion that Hamilton is copying Leclerc’s setup, a report in Italy on Friday indicated that the former Mercedes driver is actually differing wildly from his team-mate in terms of the car’s configuration.
The respected Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport claimed that Hamilton has tried a variety of bars, shock absorbers and wing levels that are ‘not optimal’ for the SF-25 car in a bid to force a breakthrough, with Leclerc finding success by opting for more conventional setup choices.
The differences in setup is said to have come as a surprise to Ferrari, which expected more alignment between Leclerc and Hamilton given the similarities in their driving styles.
Vettel has been supportive since Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was announced in February 2024, with reports last year claiming that Hamilton had approached the four-time World Champion for the lowdown on his future race engineer Riccardo Adami.
Adami previously acted as Vettel’s race engineer throughout his five-year stint at Ferrari between 2015 and 2020 before working with Hamilton’s direct predecessor Carlos Sainz.
It emerged after Hamilton’s on-track debut with Ferrari at the team’s Fiorano test track in January that the seven-time title winner had repeatedly called Vettel for advice ahead of his maiden outing with the Scuderia.
Hamilton was also spotted making handwritten notes, a working method famously adopted by Vettel throughout his racing career, during pre-season testing.
More on Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari from PlanetF1.com
Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com in a press conference at last month’s Belgian Grand Prix, Hamilton revealed that he has sent a series of “documents” to Ferrari proposing improvements to the team and the car.
He revealed that his willingness to “go the extra mile” has been driven by his determination to avoid the same fate as Vettel and Fernando Alonso, established champions who both failed to win the title with Ferrari.
Hamilton said: “The reason for it is that I see a huge amount of potential within this team. The passion? Nothing comes close to that.
“It is a huge organisation and there’s a lot of moving parts and not all of them are firing on all the cylinders that need to be.
“That’s ultimately why the team’s not had the success that I think it deserves.
“So I feel that it’s my job to challenge absolutely every area, to challenge everybody in the team, particularly the guys that are at the top making the decisions.
“If you look at the team over the last 20 years, they’ve had amazing drivers.
“You’ve had Kimi [Raikkonen, 2007 World Champion], you’ve had Fernando, you’ve had Sebastian. All world champions.
“However, they didn’t win a World Champion[ship] with Ferrari. And I refuse for that to be the case with me, so I’m going the extra mile.
“I’ve obviously been very fortunate to have had experiences in two other great teams.
“And whilst things for sure are going to be different, because there’s a different culture and everything, I think sometimes if you take the same path all the time, you get the same results, so I’m just challenging certain things.
“They’ve been incredibly responsive. We’ve been improving in so many areas, through marketing and everything we’re continuously delivering for sponsors, the way the engineers continue to work.
“There’s lots of work and improvements to be made, but very responsive and I guess ultimately just trying to really, really create allies within the organisation and get them gee’d up, get them pushing.
“I’m here to win. And I don’t have as much time as this one here [Andrea Kimi Antonelli], so it’s crunch time.
“I truly believe in the potential of this team. I really, really believe that they can win multiple World Championships moving forward.
“They already have an amazing legacy, but during my time that’s my sole goal.”
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