Lewis Hamilton reaffirmed his belief that Ferrari can once again challenge for titles in Formula One, but conceded it was "crunch time" if they are to turn their fortunes around.
Hamilton officially joined the Scuderia from Mercedes in a blockbuster move at the start of the 2025 season, but he has yet to hit the heights his new team would have hoped for.
The 40-year-old has failed to finish on the podium with Ferrari, albeit he did triumph in the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix in March.
Only Louis Rosier (15) and Ivan Capelli (14) have competed in more races than Hamilton (12) with Ferrari without ever finishing in the top three.
He sits sixth in the drivers' championship heading into this weekend's Belgium Grand Prix, 131 points adrift of championship leader Oscar Piastri.
Ferrari themselves are the most successful team in F1, having won 16 constructors' and 15 drivers' titles, though they have not won either since 2008 and 2007, respectively.
And Hamilton was in a defiant mood ahead of returning to Spa, revealing he was "challenging every area" of Ferrari in order to take them back to the top.
"I feel it is my job to challenge every area, everybody in the team - especially the guys at the top, makes the decisions," Hamilton said.
"If you look at the team for the last 20 years, they have had amazing drivers - Fernando [Alonso], Kimi [Raikkonen], Sebastian [Vettel].
"Amazing drivers but they didn't win a title, and I refuse to have that happen with me.
"If you do the same things you have the same results, so I'm challenging everything. They are very responsive. I'm here to win, I don't have much time so it is crunch time."
Hamilton also revealed that during the three-week break between Silverstone and Spa, he sent documents to Ferrari to help try and improve their performance.
The seven-time world champion visited Maranello during that period, holding meetings not just with members of the F1 team, but also with Ferrari chairman John Elkann and CEO Benedetto Vigna.
"I was at the factory a couple of days each week," he explained. "We did preparations and naturally went over where we were in the last race, the things we needed to change.
"I held a lot of meetings. So I've called on lots of lots of meetings with the heads of the team, so I've sat with John, Benedetto, and Fred [Vasseur] in several meetings.
"I've sat with the head of our car development, with Loic [Serra], also the heads of different departments, talking about the engine for next year, talking about front suspension for next year, talking about rear suspension for next year, things that you want, issues that I have with this car.
"I've sent documents. After the first few races, I did a full document for the team. Then during this break, I had another two documents that I sent in, so then I wanted to address those.
"Some of them are structural adjustments that we need to make as a team in order to get better and all the areas that we want to improve. And then the other one was really about the car, the current issues that I have with this car.
"Some things that you do want to take on to next year's car and some that you need to work on changing for next year.
"We tried the 2026 car for the first time and started work on it, 30 engineers came to the room, and you sit in a debrief with every single one of them.
"So a big, big push and otherwise just training."
DRIVERS TO WATCH
Lando Norris - McLaren
Norris said that only winning the world title would be able to top his "beautiful" maiden victory at Silverstone, and he has the wind in his sails heading to Spa this weekend.
The Briton's triumph on home turf saw him clinch the eighth victory of his F1 career, four of those coming in 2025, as many as in his previous six seasons in the competition.
Should he finish on top again in Belgium, he would equal James Hunt and Kimi Raikkonen as the driver with the sixth-most wins for McLaren in their illustrious history.
And Norris has been a key part of the British team's dominance since the middle of last season. This year, McLaren have put their drivers on the podium 20 times. They are just one top-three finish away from equalling the 21 they managed in 2024.
Should both Piastri and Norris make it onto the podium in Belgium, they will equal the 22 achieved by McLaren in 2000, their third-best record in a single year in the competition.
It will also be the 60th race that Norris and Piastri have competed in as team-mates. In Belgium, they will become the 19th different duo to reach the milestone, and the second for McLaren after Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard (99).
Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari
Hamilton returns to the track where he claimed his last victory, albeit thanks to George Russell's disqualification after the latter's car was found to be under the minimum weight.
He has won five times at Spa, though he has never put together back-to-back victories at the circuit throughout his career.
But he may have confidence this time around, with Ferrari enjoying recent success around the track. Indeed, no team has achieved more victories (14), more pole positions (13) or more podiums (42) at Spa than Ferrari.
They have achieved 51 podium finishes at the Belgian Grand Prix, making it Ferrari's fifth-most successful race in that regard, after Italy (72), Great Britain (59), Monaco (58) and Germany (53).
The Scuderia have also secured pole position in each of the last three editions of the race (Carlos Sainz in 2022, Charles Leclerc in 2023 and 2024), with the possibility of achieving four consecutive pole positions in Belgium for the first time.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Drivers'
1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 234
2. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 226
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 165
4. George Russell (Mercedes) - 147
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 119
Constructors'
1. McLaren - 460
2. Ferrari - 222
3. Mercedes - 210
4. Red Bull - 172
5. Williams - 59
