Todt warns Ferrari ‘must not forget’ Schumacher issue as Hamilton title chances addressed

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Jean Todt has now warned Ferrari of a key issue Michael Schumacher faced that the Scuderia ‘must not forget’ amid his verdict on Lewis Hamilton winning a title in red.

Maranello witnessed Schumacher become the first driver to ever win seven titles during the early 2000s. Now, Ferrari could help Hamilton to eclipse the German and be Formula 1’s first eight-time champion after signing the Briton on a multi-year contract from 2025 in February.

Hamilton drew level with Schumacher on seven drivers’ titles in 2020 with his sixth crown at Mercedes. The 39-year-old won six of a possible seven championships from 2014 amid the Silver Arrows’ dominance of the turbo-hybrid era to add to his one title for McLaren in 2008.

Ferrari ‘must not forget’ it took Michael Schumacher five years to win a drivers’ title

But Hamilton enduring his first-ever winless season in 2022 and again in 2023 convinced the Stevenage-born star to leave Mercedes for Ferrari. The move will break up Formula 1’s most successful and longest driver-team pairing after scoring 83 wins, 78 poles and 150 podiums.

Ferrari will hope Hamilton arriving in Maranello now helps the Scuderia to return to the top of Formula 1. The pride of Italy have not won a drivers’ title since Kimi Raikkonen secured it in 2007 at a rookie Hamilton’s expense. Ferrari also last won F1’s constructors’ title in 2008.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari in 2025

Yet iconic Scuderia general manager Todt believes ‘everything has to be perfect’ if Hamilton is to end Ferrari’s wait for a drivers’ title. The Frenchman who oversaw five of Schumacher’s championships also warns Ferrari to recall how long it took to win after the German joined.

“Ferrari have always had two very good drivers because every driver wants to wear the red overalls,” Todt told the print edition of Bild, via quotes by Sport.DE. “With Lewis, they now have the most successful of all time, alongside Michael.

“But we must not forget when Michael came to us, it took four years before he won his first world championship title [with Ferrari].”

Lewis Hamilton will not want to wait until 2029 to win a title with Ferrari

Ferrari endured a title drought even longer than they are currently before Schumacher won his first championship in red. The Scuderia had not topped the drivers’ standings since Jody Scheckter swept the 1979 title before Schumacher kicked off their dominant streak in 2000.

Titles then came like London busses as Ferrari and Schumacher won five in a row with their most successful period yet. But it was the result of four years of work together and decades of pain in Maranello. Hamilton will not want to wait as long to win his first title with Ferrari.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about F1’s 2026 engine and chassis regulations

What may help Hamilton avoid waiting until his fifth season with Ferrari to win the drivers’ title like Schumacher did is that Formula 1 will embrace its biggest regulation change since 2014 come 2026. The engine and chassis regulations could see the Scuderia rise to the top.