{"id":381570,"date":"2025-08-29T03:04:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T03:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381570\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T03:04:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T03:04:14","slug":"lewis-hamilton-has-done-something-at-ferrari-that-proves-he-doesnt-understand-italy-like-michael-schumacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381570\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton has done something at Ferrari that proves he doesn’t ‘understand Italy’ like Michael Schumacher"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michael Schumacher had to wait until his fifth season to win a world championship at Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton, his fellow seven-time world champion, doesn\u2019t have that kind of time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Schumacher<\/a> was 27 when he joined Ferrari from Benetton, whereas Hamilton had already turned 40. The latter\u2019s contract runs until the end of 2026, though he has an option to extend it for a further year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s feasible that this is Hamilton\u2019s last F1 contract, particularly if results continue as they are. He hasn\u2019t scored a podium in his first 14 races with the team.<\/p>\n

\"LewisPhoto by Kym Illman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Schumacher had taken three victories and six podiums within that time period, albeit in a more competitive car. He was able to transform Ferrari<\/a> slowly, whereas Hamilton needs to find urgent solutions to the team\u2019s lengthy title drought.<\/p>\n

Christian Danner tells Lewis Hamilton he must take a collaborative approach to fixing Ferrari<\/p>\n

Shortly before the summer break, Hamilton revealed that he was sending Ferrari documents of feedback<\/a> on not only their car, but also their structure and processes. According to Christian Danner<\/a>, he sees himself as far more than \u2018just a building block\u2019.<\/p>\n

Schumacher was apparently more collaborative in his approach, working alongside team principal Jean Todt and technical director Ross Brawn to build one of the most dominant operations the sport has ever seen.<\/p>\n

Danner doesn\u2019t see Hamilton<\/a> establishing that kind of tandem with Fred Vasseur, who\u2019s just renewed his contract.<\/p>\n

He also doubts whether Hamilton can be as good a \u2018motivator\u2019 as his German predecessor. Intent on travelling around the world and modelling the team on Mercedes, he doesn\u2019t \u2018understand Italy\u2019 to the same degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear that Hamilton believes, or believed, that he\u2019s helping Ferrari achieve its breakthrough,\u201d ex-F1 driver Danner said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not how it works.<\/p>\n\nCATEGORY<\/strong><\/td>\nVOL.<\/strong><\/td>\nTEAM RANK<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nRaces<\/td>\n180<\/td>\n1st<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nWins<\/td>\n72<\/td>\n1st<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nPoles<\/td>\n58<\/td>\n1st<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nPodiums<\/td>\n116<\/td>\n1st<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nChampionships<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n1st<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Michael Schumacher\u2019s record at Ferrari<\/p>\n

\u201cSchumacher, Todt, Brawn, and co. showed how it\u2019s done back then when they worked together. The driver was very important, but just a building block. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Hamilton and Fred Vasseur will manage things in such a way that Lewis can win. At least not this year. Next year, everything will be different with the new engines anyway, so it\u2019s hard to predict.<\/p>\n

\u201cSchumacher was [a great motivator], but so were Alonso and Vettel. Both failed, even though they were motivators. <\/p>\n

\u201cCan Hamilton do that? Does he understand Italy? Not a chance! He spends his time in Hollywood, Los Angeles, London and Monaco, and at home. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe he knows what\u2019s going on in and around Maranello. I know very well that he has contributed and continues to contribute to the meetings. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut you can\u2019t turn an Italian racing team like Ferrari into an English racing team like Mercedes. That\u2019s why I believe that his input is gladly taken into account, but the results remain modest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton ignores Bernie Ecclestone\u2019s advice about F1 future<\/p>\n

Hamilton has an apartment in Milan, whereas Schumacher never moved to Italy. He has made some effort to learn Italian, but recently acknowledged that it\u2019s been difficult to find time.<\/p>\n

One of his issues is that he\u2019s up against a true child of Ferrari in Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque, who has been with the team since 2019, has been a level above Hamilton all season. <\/p>\n

Gerhard Berger says Hamilton has become used to being his team\u2019s \u2018number one\u2019<\/a> driver, so this is an unfamiliar position. Ferrari don\u2019t have an explicit hierarchy, but they may naturally gravitate towards the driver who\u2019s delivering stronger results.<\/p>\n

Bernie Ecclestone has urged Hamilton to retire<\/a> in order to protect his legacy, but he has arrived at the Dutch Grand Prix with fresh motivation. He sent a clear message to his fans over the summer by telling them he was taking \u2018no days off\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Schumacher had to wait until his fifth season to win a world championship at Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[132641,4199,997,707,4200,998,5909,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-381570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-christian-danner","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-ferrari","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-lewis-hamilton","14":"tag-michael-schumacher","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115109839979770887","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}