Ralf Schumacher has highlighted a key weakness of Lewis Hamilton's compared to his seven-time world champion brother, Michael. Hamilton officially became a Ferrari driver on January 1 and is looking to become the first driver since Kimi Raikkonen to win a drivers' title in red since 2007. Prior to Raikkonen's 2007 crown, Michael Schumacher was the Maranello-based outfit's star driver, winning five consecutive drivers' titles from 2000-2004. Like Michael, Hamilton knows how to win consecutive titles; however, Ralf has pinpointed working with engineers as a key weakness of the British driver's compared to his brother. "The biggest difference is that Michael, among many other qualities, was able to work with the engineers to develop a car that suited his driving style perfectly. Lewis can't," Schumacher told Sport1.de. "He has never been able to do that, if you listen carefully to what the Mercedes engineers say. "Toto Wolff stressed more than once that a driver has to accelerate and that the engineers have to develop. But he also said that because apparently his drivers were not able to give the right input."
Additional Hamilton challenge
According to Ralf, his brother acted like a leader during his Ferrari career, feeding instructions to the team's leadership. At the time, that was Ross Brawn and Jean Todt, whilst Hamilton will be under Frederic Vasseur's guidance. Whilst Hamilton is close with Vasseur, he does not have the level of experience with Ferrari that Charles Leclerc has. Leclerc is viewed by many as Ferrari's golden boy, with an additional challenge for Hamilton being that he joins the Scuderia on the back of a bad season. "Michael was very different," continued Schumacher. "He always gave direction to his confidants like Ross Brawn or Jean Todt. "That makes it even more difficult for Lewis, because Charles Leclerc is the top dog . Everyone in the team knows him. "For Lewis, everything is new at Ferrari. Moreover, Michael came to Ferrari as the current world champion and he was much younger. That is not the case with Lewis."
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