Lewis Hamilton 'key people' concern flagged in 'truly dominant' Ferrari comparison

Lewis Hamilton would have benefited from having "key people" from his Mercedes tenure join him at Ferrari, Martin Brundle has argued.

The Former F1 driver believes it would have been "great" if the 40-year-old could have brought his old race engineer, Pete Bonnington — who is affectionately known as Bono and now works with Kimi Antonelli — with him to Maranello.

The seven-time F1 drivers' champion has endured a torrid first campaign with the Scuderia and has failed to claim a grand prix podium all season.

Having already become the Ferrari driver with the longest podium-less run to open their time at the Prancing Horse, the Briton is just one round away from failing to visit the rostrum over the course of a year for the first time in his F1 career.

Hamilton has been visibly crestfallen and downtrodden in the media pen at various points, and the campaign has been a write-off as Ferrari slides towards a seemingly inevitable fourth in the constructors' standings.

However, with the sweeping power unit and chassis changes coming into place over the off-season, there remains the chance that an uptick in fortunes is just around the corner.

Analysing the situation on Sky Sports F1, Brundle highlighted how the 105-time grand prix winner would have hoped to emulate Michael Schumacher and what the German achieved with the Italian team.

"I think Lewis went there waiting to see how Ferrari was, to work for 2026 — the biggest change in the history of Formula 1, all in one winter," he said.

"And we're weeks away from the first test for next season... But it's been more difficult than he thought it would be, I'm sure, that he hoped it would be.

"He wanted to go there and do a Michael Schumacher, but Michael went with Ross Brawn [and] Rory Byrne [who had both been with him at Benetton], Jean Todt, Stefano Domenicali was there, and of course, the brilliance of the Ferrari team.

"But there was a lot of focus, and it still took a number of years to turn Ferrari around, but that's really the last time they were truly dominant and truly the team to beat. And I think Lewis needed some more people around him."

In Brundle's view, having important figures from Mercedes make the jump to Maranello, like Brawn and Byrne did, would be an advantage to Hamilton.

Both joined Schumacher at the end of 1996, following the German's first season with Ferrari.

The pair were instrumental in turning the team into a powerhouse, which won six constructors' championships and five drivers' titles with the 91-time grand prix winner between 1999 and 2004.

Brundle added: "It would be more difficult now, but I think he needed some... He [Hamilton] was so embedded at Mercedes-Benz, he probably had 101 things happening every day [that] he didn't even notice that were around him; the infrastructure, the sort of focus... 

"And I think he ended up going there basically... It would have been great if he could have taken Bono [Pete Bonnington, his former race engineer] with him, for example, and one or two other key people."