Ralf Schumacher has revealed that he’s been hearing from Ferrari staff about how Lewis Hamilton is approaching his time at Maranello ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Hamilton trailed Charles Leclerc by 86 points in their debut season as teammates last year, a bigger gap than he had ever faced against a teammate before joining Ferrari.
The only comparable margin came in 2011 when Jenson Button outscored him by 43 points while they were together at McLaren. Still, after failing to beat George Russell during his final year at Mercedes, it was clear that wasn’t a one-off issue.
Ferrari have responded by shaking up Hamilton’s support team, replacing Riccardo Adami as his race engineer for the upcoming season. However, Hamilton won’t have a permanent engineer in place before pre-season testing begins.
That leaves him without time to build the kind of working relationship that many drivers see as crucial heading into a new campaign, especially with a major regulation change looming just around the corner.
Ralf Schumacher Shares What He’s Been Hearing From Inside Maranello
“He is trying to carry on what brought him success at Mercedes,” Ralf said. “If something brought you so much success and made you world champion seven times then you will definitely try to maintain it.”
“He doesn’t like adapting to other things – he prefers bringing things from previous places.”
Speaking on the Backstage Boxengasse Podcast, Schumacher spoke about how the most experienced drivers in Formula One will handle the upcoming regulation changes.
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are two of the most experienced drivers on the grid, with Schumacher commenting: “It’s impossible to say in general terms, as every driver deals with it differently.
“Based on my gut feeling, I would say that Fernando Alonso, even though he is getting on in years, has proven that he can handle the situation quite well.”
The Spaniard has driven for several constructors across his illustrious career and has already shown himself to be a versatile driver.
Hamilton is also a seven-time world champion, so there shouldn’t be any question marks around whether or not he can do something similar if needed.
“If not, then he has a bigger problem changing his driving style. You hear that from the team too, that he’s always chasing things he used to know and somehow isn’t really ready to change his style. So I’m curious to see how that plays out.”
How Lewis Hamilton’s Approach at Ferrari Differs from Michael Schumacher’s
Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari has inevitably drawn parallels to Michael Schumacher’s famous move back in 1996, though the situations are quite different.
Schumacher may have taken time to deliver a title, but he was more competitive out of the gate compared to Hamilton’s early struggles. There are plenty of reasons behind that difference, though.
The German legend built a leadership group around him and quickly established himself as the clear number one driver at Maranello.
Hamilton doesn’t have that kind of influence within the team and isn’t likely to get it now that he’s 41 years old. And he might not have as much time as Schumacher did back then, either.
The real question facing Hamilton is whether he can adjust quickly enough to fight at the front when Ferrari eventually puts him in position.
Read More Like This:
- How Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari mindset is worlds apart from Michael Schumacher
- Ferrari ‘source’ comments on Peter Bonnington’s chances of reuniting with Lewis Hamilton as race engineer
- Lewis Hamilton hasn’t settled in one area of the Ferrari F1 factory
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