After an extremely difficult first season at Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton finally says he feels in a “very good state of mind” thanks to several important internal changes within the Scuderia.
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The arrival of Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari had raised huge expectations, but the Briton’s first year in Maranello proved to be much more complicated than expected.
Hamilton had a difficult season, marked by a lack of results and several early eliminations in qualifying. The lowest point probably came in Hungary, when he qualified only 12th before calling himself “useless”.
The seven-time world champion ultimately finished the year without a single podium.
A change of engineer that restarted everything
During the winter, Ferrari decided to make several internal adjustments to help Hamilton better integrate.
The most important change concerns his race engineer. Riccardo Adami was removed from his garage after a collaboration deemed not smooth between the two men.
Ferrari then chose Carlo Santi, former engineer of Kimi Räikkönen, to support Hamilton. According to the Briton, this new arrangement has radically improved the working atmosphere.
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“I am in a very good state of mind” explains Hamilton.
“The best momentum” since his arrival
The British driver says that Ferrari has also made several internal reorganizations in Maranello to improve its overall functioning.
“It took time to adapt, on both sides, and last season was difficult with a car that we were not really developing” he details.
However, Hamilton believes that progress is now visible: “We have made a lot of changes internally, within the team but also in our way of working at the factory, and honestly, this is probably the best momentum we have had so far.”
Ferrari now aims at Mercedes
Thanks to this new stability, Ferrari now hopes to reduce the gap with Mercedes in the fight for the constructors’ championship. Hamilton himself seems much more relaxed and involved in the Italian project.
With humor, he nevertheless notes that one small point remains improvable: “There may be a bit too much commitment with the sponsors, but otherwise, everything is really going very well.”
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