Former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley has revealed that long-serving Maranello personnel are drawing direct comparisons between seven-time champions Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher.
After a difficult maiden campaign with Ferrari in 2025, Hamilton has bounced back under this season’s new Formula 1 technical regulations. Having claimed his long-awaited first victory in red at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, along with a string of podium finishes, the 41-year-old currently sits second in the drivers’ championship at the summer break.
According to Smedley, who spent a decade at Ferrari during the Schumacher era and beyond, Hamilton’s influence is invigorating the team.
“I’m going to give Lewis a shout-out on this. It also feels like he pushes the team hard, right? And we’ve talked about this before: when you get a driver of his standing in, the team just feels 1% more capable,” Smedley explained on the High Performance Racing podcast.
“They love him. When I talk to the guys, one-on-one or in all the group chats that I’m in, they all absolutely love him because he’s delivering, right?
“And he’s a seven-time world champion and they know that he is somebody who can deliver. He can still deliver world championships, but he’s pushing them as well. He’s pushing them in the right way, and they recognise that.”
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
Smedley argued that Hamilton’s approach is bringing back memories of Ferrari’s most dominant period. Schumacher joined the historic team in 1996. At that point, Ferrari had not won a drivers’ championship since 1979 or a constructors’ championship since 1983.
The German went on to help transform the team and secure five of his seven titles in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, and help Ferrari win six constructors’ titles.
“The guys who’ve been there for 20 years or more, they recognise the similarities between him and Michael,” Smedley added.
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