Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari: What his team-mates really think of him

Rob Smedley joined Ferrari in 2004, in the midst of the Michael Schumacher era, when the German won five consecutive world championships between 2000 and 2004 – a record in Formula 1 that still stands today. Smedley initially worked as an engineer in the test team; from 2006, he became race engineer to the Brazilian Felipe Massa.

In 2010, Fernando Alonso joined the Italian team; the Spaniard won his very first Grand Prix in red, in Bahrain, but neither Fernando nor his successor, Sebastian Vettel, went on to become world champions. Smedley is one of the few Formula 1 specialists to have worked with both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. There is one superstar Smedley missed out on – Lewis Hamilton.

Of course, Smedley has maintained excellent ties with Maranello, as he explains in the latest episode of the High Performance Racing podcast. The 52-year-old Briton says: “I’m in lots of chat groups with all my old colleagues, and they’re all absolutely buzzing about Lewis – they just love him.”

Rob Smedley

Foto: XPB

“This could turn into a Schumacher story here – if Lewis gets to grips with the car, inspires the team and wins races, then anything is possible.”

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“Hamilton puts so much effort into it. People always misunderstand Lewis because of the façade he’s built up with his public image. But all the lads – Max, Lewis, Michael, Sebastian, all these greats – they simply work harder and give more of themselves to reach the positions they’re in.”

“When you give it your all and fail time and time again, but keep coming back and keep trying, and when it finally works out, it’s like a massive outpouring of emotion.”

“I see a Lewis who’s now rallying the team around him. Everything I see when I read the Italian newspapers or speak to my mates at Ferrari – they love him, they put him on a pedestal. He’s getting better and better and better.”

“It’s not very pleasant for Charles Leclerc; Lewis has been well ahead of him in recent races. What will happen is that things will become more evenly matched towards the end of the season, but I think Lewis will have the edge over Leclerc by the end of the season.”