"Turn them into champions or he could to a Fernando Alonso or a Seb Vettel": Martin Brundle on Lewis Hamilton's prospects at Ferrari

Former F1 driver and pundit Martin Brundle has claimed that Lewis Hamilton could replicate the success of Michael Schumacher at Ferrari or add his name alongside Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.

The seven-time world champion surprised the F1 world by announcing his move to Ferrari earlier this month and ending his tenure with Mercedes after the 2024 season. He will partner Charles Leclerc on the Italian team, joining them on a multi-year deal.

While appearing on the Sky F1 podcast, Brundle discussed Lewis Hamilton's prospects at Ferrari. He mentioned that he could turn them into world champions like Schumacher or be another near-miss world champion like Alonso and Vettel. He said:

“So how could this go for Lewis? He could do a Michael Schumacher and turn them into champions again. Or he could do Fernando Alonso and Seb Vettel where it’s kind of a bit of a near-miss, but look looks pretty good on occasions.

“And just look at what Schumacher did. The Schumacher Piazza we’ve been in and filmed where Schumacher had his gym where he stayed overnight when he was always embedded in Fiorano in the factory, as Leclerc and [Carlos] Sainz have done."

Martin Brundle chimes in on Lewis Hamilton embedding himself in Ferrari

The Sky Sports pundit went on to add that Lewis Hamilton has to 'integrate' himself into the Maranello environment and embed with the team.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, Brundle said:

“He’s got to integrate and it’s hard because I don’t think he’ll speak the language, he certainly won’t speak the language and know the team like Charles Leclerc does. So you’ve got to go and find out where all the buttons are to press. And that’s why I think Lewis will want to try to take a few people with him.

"But there’ll be non-compete clauses where he can’t really do that. But you really want to take some of your own gang with you when you go so that you can hit the ground running. But I think he’ll have such respect there anyway, that if Lewis says, ‘I want the back wheels put on the front’, they’ll go, ‘Straight away.'”

It will be fascinating to see if Lewis Hamilton will be willing to go the extra mile by learning the language and embedding himself with the Italian team or molding the team around him and making them familiar with his working style.