Lewis Hamilton’s growing influence at Ferrari is beginning to remind some of the team’s longest-serving personnel of Michael Schumacher, according to former Maranello engineer Rob Smedley. The comparison is not centred on results or driving style, but on the way the seven-time world champion is reportedly pushing the organisation around him to improve.
Hamilton’s second season in red has represented a significant change from his difficult first campaign with the Scuderia. After becoming increasingly established within Ferrari, the British driver claimed his first Grand Prix victory for Ferrari in Barcelona and reached the Formula 1 summer break second in the Drivers’ Championship.
For Smedley, however, the results tell only part of the story. Having spent almost a decade working at Ferrari, the British engineer remains familiar with the culture inside Maranello and maintains contact with people who have been part of the organisation for many years.
Rob Smedley reveals how Lewis Hamilton is viewed inside Ferrari
Speaking on the High Performance Racing podcast, Smedley explained that Hamilton appears to be actively driving Ferrari forward and raising the level of those around him. In his assessment, the arrival of a driver with Hamilton’s reputation and achievements can encourage an entire Formula 1 operation to find an additional margin of performance.
Smedley indicated that the effect is also visible in Hamilton’s relationship with Ferrari personnel. Based on his individual conversations and group discussions with people inside the team, he described the Briton as extremely well regarded at Maranello, with his results helping strengthen that relationship.
The comments add another perspective to the seven-time champion’s transformation since his challenging opening season in red. Hamilton has become an increasingly influential figure in Ferrari’s 2026 campaign, while the team itself has moved closer to the front as it attempts to sustain its championship challenge. Frédéric Vasseur has nevertheless made clear in his Ferrari mid-season assessment that the Scuderia still expects more from the second half of the year.
Ferrari believe Hamilton remains capable of winning another world title
Hamilton’s seven world championships have not created an uncomfortable weight of expectation inside Ferrari in Smedley’s view. Instead, he suggested that the driver’s record has reinforced the team’s belief that it has someone capable of delivering at the highest level if Ferrari can provide the necessary package.
Smedley maintained that people within the Scuderia continue to see Hamilton as capable of winning championships while simultaneously helping move the organisation in the right direction. That confidence has become particularly significant following the difficulties of his first season at Maranello.
The 2026 campaign has offered a very different picture, with Hamilton better integrated into the team and regularly fighting near the front. His position heading into the summer break has also kept his championship ambitions alive despite the points already surrendered through penalties, incidents and other missed opportunities during Ferrari’s 2026 title fight.
Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari influence draws Michael Schumacher comparison
The most striking part of Smedley’s assessment concerns Michael Schumacher. According to the former Ferrari engineer, personnel who have spent more than two decades at Maranello have identified similarities between the effect Hamilton is having on the team and the influence Schumacher once exerted during his Ferrari career.
That does not mean Hamilton’s current achievements with the Scuderia are being placed on the same level as Schumacher’s. The German joined Ferrari in 1996 and became the central figure in the rebuilding process that eventually produced one of Formula 1’s most dominant periods, culminating in five consecutive Drivers’ Championships between 2000 and 2004.
Smedley’s comparison instead concerns the ability of an elite driver to engage an entire organisation, demand higher standards and encourage the people around him to improve. He has previously highlighted Michael Schumacher’s work ethic and influence within Ferrari, qualities that helped make the German such an important figure in the team’s history.
Hamilton remains at a much earlier stage of his own Ferrari story and has yet to win a world championship with the Prancing Horse. The significance of Smedley’s observation therefore lies less in comparing two sets of statistics and more in the reaction of people who have experienced both periods from inside Maranello.
For those long-serving Ferrari personnel, Hamilton’s capacity to demand more, motivate staff and push the team forward is reportedly beginning to feel familiar. Whether that influence can ultimately contribute to another championship-winning era will depend on what Ferrari and Hamilton are able to achieve together, but the emergence of a Schumacher comparison from within the Maranello environment underlines how dramatically perceptions of the British driver have changed since his difficult first season in red.
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