Rob Smedley shares ‘key difference’ between working with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso

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Former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley has now shared the key difference between working with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.

Smedley has worked in motorsport for more than 20 years including spells with Jordan, Williams and Ferrari.

Speaking on The Race Podcast, the 50-year-old shared what he learned from working with some of the best drivers to ever grace Formula 1.

Ferrari’s reputation in F1 is unmatched and as a result, many of the sport’s greatest drivers have raced for the Italian team.

It’s meant that those behind the scenes have had to deal with the pressure of elevating their drivers to the front of the grid.

In the past 15 years, they’ve failed to win a single title, a remarkable dry spell for Formula 1’s most successful team.

Smedley worked closely with Felipe Massa during his time with Ferrari and was his race engineer when he came so close to winning the championship in 2008.

However, Smedley also worked with world champions Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher.

The pair had very different levels of success with the Italian team with Schumacher dominating the sport in the early 2000s while Alonso narrowly missed out on three titles.

Smedley shares the difference between working with Schumacher and Alonso

Speaking about his relationship with the drivers, Smedley said: “Michael [Schumacher] was super analytical and very interested in the nuisances.

“And Fernando [Alonso] was very much like that as well. The key difference between Fernando and Michael is that Fernando in the first lap in P1, he’s eleven-tenths, he’s flat out and he’s absolutely giving it 100% all the time.

“Michael probably had a slightly different approach to a race weekend.”

Schumacher and Alonso’s approaches both worked despite as Smedley says they didn’t start their race weekends in the same way.

Their longevity within such a demanding sport highlights how good they both were although Alonso may be disappointed that he never earned a third title while with Ferrari.

He’s unlikely to achieve that at Aston Martin in 2024 and has already shared some feedback on their upcoming car in the simulator.

You don’t win championships without being incredibly demanding of your team and having a good relationship with your engineers.

Something Smedley would have experienced first-half with two of Formula 1’s modern greats.