Rosberg responds to Lewis Hamilton ‘documents’ as message sent to Ferrari

Nico Rosberg believes that Ferrari must take note of what Lewis Hamilton is telling them.

That verdict comes in response to the “documents” which Hamilton has been feeding Ferrari as he looks to engineer productive change. Rosberg believes it is a positive sign of Hamilton’s continued commitment, with his first Ferrari season having proven a challenging experience thus far.

Rosberg declares Lewis Hamilton documents ‘great sign’ for Ferrari

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Charles Leclerc has had the beating of Hamilton in the Ferrari intra-team battle, claiming five podiums to Hamilton’s zero. Leclerc reached the summer break 42 points ahead of Hamilton in the Drivers’ standings.

But, Hamilton has been pressing on. He revealed to the media, including PlanetF1.com, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, that he had “called lots of meetings” in the three-week break between Silverstone and Spa.

The interactions were held with key Ferrari figures such as president John Elkann, chief executive Benedetto Vigna, team principal Fred Vasseur and chassis technical director Loic Serra, with a view to changes that should be ushered in for F1 2026.

“I was at the factory a couple of days each week,” he revealed.

“We did preparation for naturally going over where we were on the previous race, things that we need to change.

“I hold a lot of meetings, I’ve called lots of meetings with the heads of the team.

“I’ve sat with John, Benedetto and Fred in several meetings. I’ve sat with the head of our car development, with Loic, also with the heads of different departments, talking about the engine for next year, talking about front suspension for next year, talking about rear suspension for next year – things that you want, issues that I have with this car.

“I’ve sent documents through the year. After the first few races, I did a full document for the team.

“Then during this break, I had another two documents that I sent in and so then I come in and want to address those.

“Some of it’s structural adjustments that we need to make as a team in order to get better and all the areas that we want to improve.

“The other one was really about the car, the current issues that I have with this car, some things that you do want to take on to the next year’s car and some that you need to work on changing for next year.

“We did development for [next year], tried the 2026 car for the first time and started work on that.

“Thirty engineers come into the room and you sit and debrief with every single one of them.

“So big, big push.”

Rosberg believes Ferrari should take Hamilton’s efforts as a positive sign of his commitment remaining, and listen to him.

Hamilton went into the summer break off the back of arguably his most challenging Ferrari race weekend yet. He qualified P12 at the Hungarian Grand Prix and finished in that position, while Leclerc claimed his and Ferrari’s first pole position of the season, ahead of a P4 finish.

Hamilton had called himself “useless” after dropping out in Q2, suggesting Ferrari “change driver”. He also alluded to things going on in the “background” at Ferrari which were “not great”.

“He’s a seven-time World Champion, so you definitely have to listen to what a seven-time World Champion is telling you,” said Rosberg, the 2016 World Champion and Hamilton’s former team-mate, turned Sky F1 pundit.

“But it also takes time. Many of the things they cannot just change overnight. If the brakes are an issue, it’s a long lead time to develop the new brake system. Or if he’s not happy with the balance, it’s a really long process.

“So in many senses, he will be even thinking about next year already now as well, with some of the things that he’s talking about.

“I think it’s a good sign, though, that we’re hearing that Lewis is pushing, you know. He’s not like resign, giving up, but he’s really pushing hard, the team, the owners, the team boss. That’s a great sign.”

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc head-to-head in F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Ex-F1 driver turned Ferrari ambassador Marc Gene has been a part of the team’s debriefs. He revealed to Sky F1 what is most troubling Hamilton with the Ferrari SF-25 car.

“The only thing now really is this instability,” said Gene, “that really bothers him a lot.

“Charles probably can cope with it.

“But believe me, I’m in the briefings, and there’s a lot of positives. But still not fully, you know, there are still areas that we need to give him a car that he feels more comfortable [with] and can push straight away and can do a proper weekend.

“Because he’s never really done it yet, except the Sprint in China. There’s been positives, but not the full package yet.”

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