Expert Warns Hamilton Repeating Vettel's Ferrari Mistake
F1 experts Martin Brundle and Christian Danner warn that Lewis Hamilton is repeating Sebastian Vettel's key mistake at Ferrari by arriving without his core Mercedes team. They contrast this with Michael Schumacher's successful transformation of Ferrari, which was backed by importing key technical personnel. Hamilton's significant performance deficit to Charles Leclerc underscores the challenge of adapting alone to Ferrari's unique system.
Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari has not yielded the instant success he or the Tifosi envisioned, with the seven-time champion struggling to match teammate Charles Leclerc and failing to reach Q3 in four consecutive races. Experts are now drawing stark parallels to Sebastian Vettel's challenging tenure at Maranello, suggesting Hamilton may have made a critical error by not bringing key personnel from Mercedes to ease his transition.
Why it matters:
Hamilton's high-profile switch was meant to cap his career with an iconic title for the sport's most famous team. His current struggles highlight the immense difficulty of adapting to Ferrari's unique culture and operational methods as an individual, without the ingrained support system that facilitated Michael Schumacher's historic success in the 2000s.
The details:
- Former F1 driver and Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle pinpointed the core issue, stating Hamilton "made the same mistake as Sebastian Vettel once did."
- Brundle contrasts Hamilton's solo arrival with Schumacher's, who brought technical masterminds Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne from Benetton to overhaul Ferrari. "And even then it took years," Brundle added.
- Hamilton arrived without his long-time race engineer Peter "Bono" Bonnington or other familiar Mercedes structures. Brundle argues this lack of a trusted inner circle is a cardinal error, leaving Hamilton to navigate "a hundred small things in everyday life—infrastructure, focus, processes—you only notice when they are missing."
- The performance gap is significant: Hamilton is on average more than two-tenths of a second behind Leclerc in qualifying, a larger deficit than Carlos Sainz had in his four years as Leclerc's teammate.
The big picture:
Christian Danner, another ex-F1 driver, offers an even starker warning, believing "Lewis will bite on granite at Ferrari." He asserts that Ferrari operates fundamentally differently from Mercedes and that, aside from Schumacher's Brawn-led revolution, no driver has successfully reshaped the team's system. The consensus is that Hamilton's best chance for a reset coincides with the new technical regulations in 2026, but adapting until then remains a monumental challenge.
What's next:
Hamilton's immediate task is to halt his qualifying slump and close the gap to Leclerc. The long-term outlook hinges on Ferrari's ability to provide him with a championship-contending car under the 2026 rules, and on Hamilton's capacity to integrate into the team's fabric without the familiar Mercedes framework that supported his six title-winning campaigns.