Hamilton takes matters into his own hands to ‘gee up’ Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton revealed on Thursday he had prepared his own reports to present to Ferrari’s senior management during a series of recent meetings in a bid to power the team to a first world title since 2008.

The seven-time world champion told a news conference ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix that he was not prepared to accept the fate of other multiple world champions like Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.

“If you look at the team over the last 20 years, they’ve had amazing drivers like Kimi (Raikkonen), Fernando and Sebastian, all world champions, but they (Alonso and Vettel) didn’t win a world championship with Ferrari — and I refuse for that to be the case with me,” he said. 

“So I am going the extra mile and I’ve been fortunate to have experiences in two other great teams — and whilst things will be different because of the culture, if you take the same path, you will get the same results.”

Hamilton added: “I am trying to create allies in the organisation and get them geed up. I am here to win, and this is crunch time for me.

“I truly believe in the potential of the team. I really believe they can win multiple world championships moving forward. They already have an amazing legacy, but… during my time, that is my sole goal.”

Raikkonen was Ferrari’s last drivers’ champion in Hamilton’s maiden season in Formula One in 2007, while their most recent constructors’ title came the following season when the now 40-year-old Briton won his first individual title with McLaren. 

Hamilton left McLaren for Mercedes and went on to win six more drivers’ championships before joining Ferrari this year. 

He and team-mate Charles Leclerc have struggled and are without a win, while Hamilton is without a podium success at the halfway stage of the 24-race campaign. 

Hamilton revealed these results pushed him to hold meetings with Ferrari chairman John Elkann, Chief Executive Officer Benedetto Vigna and team boss Fred Vasseur, having prepared his own detailed documents. 

“The reason is that I see a huge amount of potential within this team,” he said. “Nothing comes close to the passion, but it is a huge organisation and there are a lot of moving parts, not all of which are firing on all cylinders.

“Ultimately, that is why the team has not had the success I think it deserves and so I feel it is my job to challenge every area, to challenge everybody in the team, and particularly the guys at the top, making decisions.”