Mercedes figure lifts lid on Lewis Hamilton ‘support’ over Ferrari struggles

Lewis Hamilton swapped Mercedes for Ferrari in time for F1 2025, but it is a move which is yet to deliver a fresh spark for the sport’s most successful driver.

Hamilton was soundly beaten by teammate Charles Leclerc in his first Ferrari season, one in which he failed to score a podium throughout, for the first time in his F1 career. Mercedes has been looking to “support” Hamilton “in our own way” as he struggles with the Ferrari switch, which includes regular flight talks with Toto Wolff.

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Hamilton ended the season 86 points worse off than Leclerc. There were fleeting highs such as winning the China Sprint, yet lows like the run of four consecutive Q1 exits across Sprint and Grand Prix action to see out the year.

It was ahead of the 2024 season that Hamilton signed on the dotted line for a future switch to Ferrari. His relationship with Mercedes – where he won six of his record-equalling seven World Championships – remained in-tact, and continues to be strong.

So much so that Hamilton continues to confide in the team, and his former team boss Toto Wolff, as Wolff’s key ally, Mercedes’ chief communications officer Bradley Lord, recently discussed.

Mercedes tries to “support” Hamilton in regards to his Ferrari struggles.

“We feel sorry for him on a human level, because we know how much heart and soul Lewis puts into his work, how committed he is, how much he trains and so on,” Lord is widely reported as having told CHAMP1.

“And sometimes every driver has ups and downs, or phases where you just can’t get it all together, and that hits him hard.

“But we try to support him in our own way, or Toto often travels with him from the races and they talk about it a lot and, yes, we try to encourage him.”

In a Wall Street Journal interview back in the summer, Wolff shed further light on the sound Hamilton relationship which Lord references.

“He pops up in the office on the weekend! He speaks with the engineers, gets some food.

“After many Grand Prix, he travels back with me. So we have the old gang: Valtteri Bottas, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and me flying from the races.”

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Still able to call on familiar faces at Mercedes when in need, the Silver Arrows have not written off Hamilton as a competitor.

“We know that Lewis Hamilton can still be a benchmark and possibly will continue to be in this sport,” Lord stated, “and we still believe he can do it.”

Hamilton has been unable to challenge for further title honours since his defeat to Max Verstappen in the Abu Dhabi 2021 title decider. Hamilton’s baron spell has coincided with Formula 1’s ground effect era, but the regulations receive a major overhaul in time for F1 2026.

New chassis and engine rules are on the way, and perhaps understandably, Hamilton is not sorry to see the ground effect cars that were go, as he looks ahead to the new era in hope of a return to form.

“There is not a single thing I will miss about these cars,” he declared when speaking to PlanetF1.com and other accredited media in Abu Dhabi.

“Literally, there’s nothing. I haven’t enjoyed it.”

Hamilton and Leclerc will continue to front the Ferrari charge into F1 2026.

Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher

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