Since his much-publicized arrival at Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton is off to a more complex start than expected. While its prestige and track record have never been called into question, its adaptation to the Scuderia seems laborious. A key element, long overlooked, could explain its difficulties: a contractual clause imposed by Mercedes before his departure.
Indeed, according to several revelations that are not new since they date back to February 2025, Hamilton, on leaving Mercedes, had to accept a strict condition: he was prohibited from "poaching" staff from his former team for a period of one year. This "no poaching" clause, signed in the summer of 2023 when he extended his contract with Mercedes, prevented the Briton from surrounding himself with key figures such as Peter Bonnington, his loyal race engineer since 2013.
In concrete terms, Lewis Hamilton had to join Ferrari without being able to bring with him the trusted people who had been essential to his past successes. Deprived of his close technical circle, he found himself isolated, obliged to forge new relationships with engineers he knew little about. Despite the presence of a few Mercedes veterans, such as Loïc Serra (Technical Director) and Jérôme D'Ambrosio (Assistant Team Principal), the methodological impact of this forced separation should not be underestimated.
In parallel, Charles Leclerc recently highlighted another source of friction: Hamilton's "very different" approach to work. "It doesn't mean that we're going to change everything, but certain things are opening our minds," explained the Monegasque. This clash of methods, inherited from the Mercedes years, has certainly opened up new perspectives for Ferrari, but it has also generated some hesitation within the team.
Leclerc welcomes the enrichment of Hamilton's experience, it also acknowledges differences in the interpretation of certain technical aspects. Far from being head-to-head opposites, the two drivers nevertheless found a surprising similarity in the way they approached corner entry, a rare point of commonality in a context of generally difficult adaptation.
The only real moment of satisfaction for Hamilton at Ferrari so far remains his victory in the Sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix. But this one-off success at the start of the 2025 season for Formula 1 does not mask the underlying difficulties. The isolation imposed by Mercedes, combined with the different working cultures at Ferrari, sheds new light on the challenges facing the seven-time world champion.
English 
French 
Italian 
Spanish 
Portuguese 
German 
Japanese 
Turkish