Michael Schumacher’s ex-engineer thinks Lewis Hamilton lost ‘confidence’ upon realising Ferrari flaw

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Lewis Hamilton’s first season as a Ferrari driver has been far, far, far from what he and the Scuderia expected the seven-time F1 champion to achieve after leaving Mercedes.

Maranello greeted Hamilton like a hero this January, after he replaced Carlos Sainz at Ferrari for the 2025 F1 season. But while the 40-year-old then declared in February that Ferrari had “every ingredient” needed to win a title, neither world championship has been on the cards.

Hamilton is only sixth in the F1 drivers’ championship with three rounds of the season to go. He has secured a mere 148 points compared to the 390 that McLaren pilot Lando Norris has penned to lead the table, while Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc ranks fifth with 214 points.

Ferrari have also fallen from second to fourth place in the constructors’ standings after their second double retirement of 2025 so far during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The Scuderia now face deficits of 36 points to Mercedes and four to Red Bull in their scrap for the silver spoon.

Ferrari’s lack of elite ‘high-level’ figures will have dented Lewis Hamilton’s ‘confidence’

Having also seen problems throughout various areas in the team since moving to Maranello, Hamilton has sent Ferrari documents citing changes that he wants the pride of Italy to make to become successful again. He has compared their failings to what he enjoyed at Mercedes.

READ MORE: Seven best drives of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes career before Ferrari move

Former Ferrari race engineer Luigi Mazzola, who worked for Michael Schumacher across his five titles for the team, especially feels the Scuderia’s lack of certain “high-level figures” like Hamilton worked under at Mercedes will have hurt his enthusiasm and also his confidence.

Mazzola told Fanpage: “You arrive as a superstar, a multiple world champion with enormous expectations surrounding you, and you imagine finding a car at least at the level of the end of 2024, when Ferrari had scored the most points of all at the end of the season.

“Instead, you find yourself with a difficult car, complicated to set up, and with a different methodology than what you were used to.

“Hamilton tried to use his experience to change certain habits. But if you’re slower than your teammate, it becomes difficult to be taken as a reference point.

“And in my opinion, he hasn’t found the defined technical expertise that was present at Mercedes. When you realise that some high-level figures are missing, it’s normal to lose a bit of enthusiasm and confidence.”

Lewis Hamilton will hope Ferrari listened to his advice ahead of the 2026 F1 regulations

Hamilton won six of his seven drivers’ titles with Mercedes between 2014 and 2020, before losing the 2021 championship at the season-finale to Max Verstappen and then enduring a run of woe under the ground-effect regulations that F1 introduced during the 2022 season.

READ MORE: The five worst moments of Lewis Hamilton’s career in Formula 1

The Briton has never adapted to the ground-effect regulations, as the cars require a driving style that does not suit his natural approach. So, as Mercedes also never managed to get on top of the current regulations, Hamilton agreed to join Ferrari from 2025 in February 2024.

But while Ferrari fell just 14 points shy of winning the constructors’ title to McLaren in 2024, the Scuderia dropped the ball with their 2025 car. Now, Hamilton is pinning his hopes on the pride of Italy acing the 2026 F1 regulations, which should deliver a car better suited to him.

Yet, having also accepted that Ferrari do not have “every ingredient” to win a championship since moving from Mercedes, Hamilton will have to hope the Scuderia have taken his advice on board. If not, next year could yield further woe rather than a record-breaking eighth title.