Lewis Hamilton's two 'secret clauses' in Ferrari contract revealed as doubts raised over future

Lewis Hamilton has two 'secret clauses' in his Ferrari contract - and one in particular could play a key role in his future success.

Hamilton endured a nightmare Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, qualifying and finishing in 12th position at one of his favoured circuits.

Team-mate Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, qualified on pole position after a superb Q3 lap before finishing in fourth.

The Ferrari driver described himself as 'useless' after qualifying, and added: "The team have no problems. You see the car's on pole. So they probably need to change driver."

Hamilton has had a challenging 2025 with an underperforming Ferrari car, though has picked up their only win of the season.

That was, however, in a sprint race in China, with the Scuderia still yet to secure victory in a Grand Prix.

Leclerc has finished ahead of Hamilton in 11 of the 13 Grands Prix - though there has often been little to separate them - and has a 10-4 record in qualifying, which is the seven-time world champion's more significant concern.

Hamilton's 'secret clauses' in Ferrari contract

The hope is that Ferrari's 2026 car, the first designed under regulations, will be better suited to Hamilton's driving style in a way that the current era of cars simply have not.

Hamilton will enter his second season as a Scuderia driver, having signed an initial two-year contract with the team in 2024.

Significantly, Italian Formu1a.uno claim that Hamilton was given technical guarantees as part of the deal in relation to the engine that Ferrari are producing for 2026.

Alongside a new engine-specific cost cap, the new regulations allow for engines to possess almost triple the amount of electrical power than the current power units.

Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are contracted to Ferrari for 2026 (Image: Getty)

The new power units will also collect more braking energy, with the MGU-H unit also banned.

Prior to 2025, Hamilton had spent his entire F1 career driving Mercedes engines, but is the sport's second most-experienced driver behind Fernando Alonso.

The other 'secret' clause, according to Sportune, is that $20 million of the reported $80 million per year value of Hamilton's contract will be given in bonuses 'for the benefit' of the seven-time world champion's own foundation.

Mission 44 was founded by Hamilton and aims to give all young people the opportunity to work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.