Lewis Hamilton insider ‘shouting from the rooftops’ as crucial Ferrari upgrade arrives
Ferrari senior performance engineer Jock Clear will be “shouting from the rooftops” for the team to listen to Lewis Hamilton’s advice on car development.
That is the belief of Sky F1 presenter Simon Lazenby, who reckons Clear’s experience of working alongside Hamilton at Mercedes will be key to the seven-time World Champion’s hopes of turning his situation around at Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton set to try Ferrari’s key suspension upgrade in private Mugello testHamilton has had an underwhelming start to his Ferrari career following his high-profile move from Mercedes for the F1 2025 season.
Despite enjoying success in the sprint format, Hamilton has failed to score a podium across his first 12 appearances for Ferrari, marking his worst-ever start to a campaign.
Ferrari has taken steps to improve the SF-25 car over recent weeks, introducing a new floor at last month’s Austrian Grand Prix (below).
The team’s recovery is set to continue at next weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, where a highly anticipated rear-suspension upgrade is expected to arrive.
It is hoped that the update will rectify the car’s persistent ride-height issues, which have forced Ferrari to run the SF-25 higher than it was designed for at the cost of performance since Hamilton was disqualified in China in March.
If successful, the new rear suspension will allow Ferrari to experiment with more aggressive setup choices and access more of the car’s underlying potential in the second half of the season.
As reported by PlanetF1.com, Ferrari is set to hold a filming day at the Mugello circuit today (Wednesday) with Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc sampling the new rear suspension in a real-world environment for the first time.
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
Ferrari has been criticised by some elements of the Italian media for a perceived failure to follow Hamilton’s lead in terms of car development.
And Lazenby has backed Clear, who served as Hamilton’s performance engineer at Mercedes across 2013/14 before joining Ferrari, to ensure that the seven-time World Champion’s voice is heard at Maranello.
Appearing on the Sky F1 podcast, Lazenby said: “I spoke to Jock Clear, [who] has worked with Lewis with both [teams].
“He’s worked with him at Mercedes and he’s worked with him at Ferrari on the performance side and getting the best out of things.
“If there’s anyone definitely shouting from the rooftops [saying], ‘Listen to what Lewis has to say’, it’s him, because apparently his [Hamilton’s] feedback is second to none.
“There’s a reason he’s won seven World Championships. His feedback is amazing.”
Damon Hill, the 1996 World Champion, argued that Hamilton has struggled with the challenges of adapting to a new team in F1 2025 after spending so many years with Mercedes.
And he remains convinced that Ferrari has a better chance of “doing something” with Hamilton compared to Leclerc due to the 40-year-old’s greater experience.
Hill said: “There’s so much to learn about a new team.
“When you’ve been somewhere for 11 [years] with Mercedes and you go somewhere else, there’s a lot to learn.
“If you just talk about people, knowing who the people are, getting the language, all those other factors. He’s got a lot to work on.
“I do think that they’ve got a chance of doing something with Lewis when I don’t think they would have a chance of developing with Charles, because Charles has never been anywhere else.
“That’s the problem. Going from one team to another, it takes a few years.”
More on Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari from PlanetF1.comAs previously reported by PlanetF1.com, the rear-suspension upgrade is likely to prove Ferrari’s last of the current campaign as attention turns to Project 678, the team’s first car under the new F1 2026 rules.
David Croft, the long-serving commentator, claimed that the new rear suspension could end up salvaging Ferrari’s 2025 season.
He said: “Ferrari do need to listen [to Hamilton].
“Otherwise, why spend all that money on bringing someone like Lewis in?
“We’ve got one upgrade to come in Spa for Ferrari and that’s it for the year. They are not going to bring any more.
“Can they sort out the rear of the car where the damper hasn’t being able to damp in the way that it wants to because they’ve moved the cockpit and they are just cramped for space at the back?
“That has been affecting them right from the start of the season.
“If that redesign and the floor is working, then we’ll see – if they get the setup and the strategy right – some better performances in the second half [of 2025].”
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