‘This could be a Michael story’ - Rob Smedley reveals inside Ferrari view on Lewis Hamilton

The Ferrari Formula 1 team “absolutely love” Lewis Hamilton and are “putting him on a pedestal”, according to former race engineer Rob Smedley.

Hamilton has impressively bounced back from a disappointing debut season with Ferrari to take his first grand prix podiums and victory with the famous Italian team during a fantastic start to the 2026 F1 season.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton followed up back-to-back second place finishes in Canada and Monaco with a specular maiden win as a Ferrari driver in Barcelona last time out.

It marked Hamilton’s first victory in nearly two years, and ended a similar barren winless run for Ferrari.

Smedley, who worked at Ferrari throughout the 2000s and 2010s, most famously as Felipe Massa’s race engineer, provided an insight into the impact Hamilton has had on his former colleagues at Maranello.

“Everybody’s very pleased,” Smedley told the High Performance Racing podcast. “I’m on lots of chat groups with all of my old colleagues and they’re all literally over the moon with Lewis – they just love him.

“We talked about this, [that] this could be a Michael story, of how Lewis… If he can get on top of the car, and he can lift the team, and he can start winning races, and he can guide them towards world championships, they will absolutely love him.”

Smedley said Hamilton’s character is often misunderstood, insisting the 41-year-old Briton is one of the hardest working drivers in the F1 paddock.

“He puts so much effort in, right? People always misunderstand Lewis, because of the shell that he’s created around himself with his public persona,” Smedley continued.

“All the guys, funnily enough, Max [Verstappen], Lewis, Michael, Sebastian [Vettel], all of those guys who are greats, they work harder and put more of themselves into it to get to the positions that they’re in.

“When you put yourself into anything, especially winning a Grand Prix, when you put all of yourself into it and you keep failing, but you keep coming back, and you keep trying... Eventually when it happens, it’s like an outpouring of emotions.”

Smedley also weighed in on the internal battle at Ferrari and believes that a rejuvenated Hamilton could now edge out team-mate Charles Leclerc.

“If you look at the balance of performance between the two drivers, and this is a Lewis now that is corralling the team around him… Everything that I see when I read the Italian newspapers or I talk to my mates in Ferrari, they all love him, they’re all putting him on a pedestal,” Smedley added.

“He’s getting better and better and better, and I think the balance… At the minute it’s not very nice for Charles, Lewis is way ahead of him over the last few races. What will happen is it will be more balanced towards the end of the season, but I just think that Lewis will nick it.”