Lewis Hamilton told he missed Michael Schumacher-style trick in Ferrari switch

F1 commentator Alex Jacques believes Lewis Hamilton made a mistake not bringing as many familiar faces with him from Mercedes to Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton has endured a disappointing start to life at Ferrari, failing to finish on the podium in the first 14 races of the 2025 F1 season.

The seven-time world champion’s confidence is on the floor after he finished outside the points at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

One challenge for Hamilton has been working with race engineer Riccardo Adami.

Their relationship appeared tense during the middle of the European leg of the campaign as Hamilton was unhappy with the level of communication.

Hamilton could not bring Peter ‘Bono’ Bennington with him to Maranello due to an agreement in place that meant Ferrari could not poach Mercedes’ top personnel.

Michael Schumacher comparison made

Michael Schumacher famously made the switch from Benetton to Ferrari in 1996.

Schumacher would have to wait until 2000 to taste title success.

The German brought the likes of Ross Brawn with him from Benetton - one of the keys behind Ferrari’s dominance.

Jacques feels that Hamilton should have brought several familiar faces from Mercedes even though the 40-year-old has worked with team boss Frederic Vasseur and deputy team principal Jerome d’Ambrosio before.

Hamilton was also reunited with physiotherapist Angela Cullen.

Hamilton and Cullen had parted ways in early 2023.

“Yeah, I think he should have taken as many people that he trusted as possible to Ferrari,” Jacques said.

“Purely because if you look at the history of that great team, the last person to succeed properly imported all of the staff from Benetton that he trusted and then empowered all of the talented people around him.

“Michael Schumacher was able, because Ferrari was at such a low ebb in the mid-90s, he was able to dictate terms both financially and operationally.

“And I wonder if, I mean, it might not have been possible for Lewis, but I wonder if he would do that differently.

“I think that would have been enormously helpful from the confidence side, from knowing that, OK, I’m getting everything, I know my race engineer, and I’m getting everything from that department. Where else do I need to look?

“I think Ferrari has a history of eating up a driver’s mental capacity, like we saw with Sebastian Vettel, when he was very, very stressed with the strategy throughout his time there.”