Ferrari engineer has now ‘requested’ 2025 car change that could solve Lewis Hamilton qualifying issues

Lewis Hamilton reunites with one of his former engineers at Ferrari this month. Loic Serra has recently become the team’s technical director chassis.

Formerly the head of vehicle performance at BMW Sauber, Serra joined Mercedes on their return to F1 in 2010. He helped Hamilton win six championships in seven seasons between 2014 and 2020.

Ferrari announced last May that they had poached the Frenchman, who started work in October. He’s not their only new hire from Mercedes, with ex-F1 driver Jerome D’Ambrosio arriving as the deputy team principal to Fred Vasseur.

Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington chose to stay at Brackley to work with teenage replacement Kimi Antonelli. He received a promotion and signed a new contract.

Nonetheless, the presence of a couple of familiar faces at Maranello will aid the 40-year-old’s adaptation. Hamilton will drive a Ferrari F1 car for the first time within the next fortnight.

Loic Serra wants to address tyre temperature issues before Lewis Hamilton debut

A report from Motorsport Italy outlines Serra’s contribution to the 2025 project. Because he joined midway through the autumn, Ferrari were already in the late stages of their development.

However, he’s still ‘requested modifications’ that could change the ‘basic behaviour’ of the car for Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. His focus is on the suspension, specifically the torsion bars and shock absorbers.

His ideas ‘should’ reduce tyre overheating and widen their ‘operating window’, allowing the drivers to push harder with less regard for management. Ferrari are aware that qualifying was their biggest issue – they only managed four poles last year, joint-third with Mercedes.

They struggled to nurse the tyres to the right temperature before the start of the lap, which often hurt them in the first sector. Sometimes Leclerc and Carlos Sainz would push too hard to compensate, which meant they ran out of grip in the last few corners.

Serra’s experience working for Michelin, F1’s former tyre supplier, makes him an expert. If he can solve this issue, it could be particularly beneficial for Hamilton.

Mercedes told Hamilton he was pushing too hard in qualifying and overheating the rubber. But if Ferrari can build a gentler car, he may not be hamstrung by these issues in 2025.

Why Lewis Hamilton might have to drive differently to extract the best from Ferrari’s car

Qualifying was the root of Hamilton’s problems last year. He lost 19-5 to George Russell in the Mercedes head-to-head, and so even though they had similar race pace, he often failed to maximise the potential of the W15.

During Mercedes’ heyday, Hamilton seemed at one with his machinery. But he hasn’t really looked comfortable at any point since the start of the ground-effect era in 2022.

For his entire career, the Briton has used the Silver Arrows’ power units. Now, though, he’ll have a Ferrari engine in the back.

That means Hamilton will have to change his driving style, feeding the throttle differently on the exit of corners. This is part of the adaptation process that could hand Leclerc the advantage in the first half of the season.