Rob Smedley blames regulations and culture for why Lewis Hamilton hasn’t been comfortable at Ferrari

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Lewis Hamilton has been a shade of his former self since he arrived in Maranello, and one former Ferrari engineer, Rob Smedley, has identified two clear reasons why the seven-time world champion hasn’t yet looked comfortable.

Off the back of a blockbuster transfer that broke the internet, Lewis Hamilton experienced his worst season in Formula 1 as he grappled with adapting to Ferrari machinery after so many years of success with Mercedes.

Now heading into his second season with the Scuderia, the 41-year-old has been subject to several changes in hopes of turning his form around.

The biggest change comes in the form of his race engineer. Ferrari moved Hamilton’s former right-hand man, Riccardo Adami, into a new position within the Maranello-based team’s ranks, with the Briton’s new race engineer likely to be Cedric Michel-Grosjean.

• READ MORE: Ferrari’s ‘transformed’ SF-26 setup favours Charles Leclerc over Lewis Hamilton in 2026 testing

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Rob Smedley outlines the two clear reasons why Lewis Hamilton hasn’t looked comfortable at Ferrari

During an appearance on the High Performance Podcast, former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley was asked for his thoughts on the issues that Hamilton faced at Maranello last season.

Smedley is well-known from his tenure as Felipe Massa’s race engineer at the Scuderia, and he identified two key reasons for the seven-time world champion’s struggles last year.

He said, “I think there are two things going on there from what I can see from the outside, and from just talking to people as well. Since the hybrid era started, Lewis has been less comfortable with the cars, and you’ve seen his teammates get a lot closer to him.

“It’s still the hybrid era now with this, you know, when he went from Mercedes to Ferrari, it was still the same generation of cars. So I think Lewis was less comfortable than he was when he won all of those world titles.

“Then the other thing is: it is a big change in environment. I don’t know Mercedes well; I know Ferrari very well, and I know other teams very well. And the environment within Ferrari is very, very different.

“So there will be, for sure, technical differences, the way they approach a weekend, the way that they set the car up, the technical aspects of the operations, all of that will be very different. Mercedes fit Lewis like a pair of old slippers; he knew it, it was his team. Everything had been moulded around him.

Then you go into this team that has this hundred-and-odd-year history where everything hasn’t been moulded around you, and there’s a very particular way of doing things, so all of that suddenly feels uncomfortable.”

• READ MORE: Ferrari plan ‘significant investigation’ into new engine braking issue following Bahrain test data

A year since this iconic shot ⏳ Be honest — one word for Hamilton’s Ferrari era so far? 👀

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Lewis Hamilton has looked a lot more comfortable with Ferrari ahead of the 2026 F1 season

Despite the clouds of 2025 still lingering over Hamilton’s head, the seven-time world champion has been part of a much more encouraging pre-season programme with Ferrari.

During the first Bahrain test, Charles Leclerc highlighted his satisfaction with how prepared Ferrari were compared to their testing programme last season.

Hamilton has also been seen to have finally adapted his driving style to suit the Italian constructor’s machinery, with Ferrari ambassador Marc Gene stating how the Briton now looks a lot more comfortable at the wheel of their cars.

While the real test will come during the season-opener in Melbourne, starting the season with newfound confidence in the machinery that he is at the wheel of will certainly be an improvement on last year.

He is still on the hunt for his first podium appearance in the famous red colours of the Scuderia, so that will be the first thing that the 104-time Grand Prix winner will want to check off.