Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton 'raise the level' of their whole teams, claims former Ferrari race engineer

Former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley believes that drivers like Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappenm and Lewis Hamilton “raise the level” of their teams, dragging them towards winning ways.

Smedley, who worked with the Scuderia for more than a decade, most notably as Felipe Massa’s race engineer, said that he sees similar qualities in Leclerc, Hamilton, and Verstappen, that he did in Michael Schumacher during Ferrari’s dominance in the early 2000s.

Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport ahead of the 2022 British GP, he said:

“He, [Charles Leclerc] Max [Verstappen] and Lewis [Hamilton] are able to raise the level of the whole team, dragging others along and conveying a winning spirit.”

He added:

“The same ability that Michael Schumacher had at Ferrari, when he was a catalyst, surrounded by [Jean] Todt, [Ross] Brawn and [Rory] Byrne. From these drivers comes the drive to react to mistakes and improve.”

Smedley felt that most of the newer generation drivers that are currently on the F1 grid share similar “exciting” qualities, which attracts audiences to the sport. The increased audience engagement, as well as the phenomenal growth that the sport has seen in the last few years, is in part due to the younger drivers’ ability to attract fans, according to Smedley. He said:

“Lewis Hamilton has achieved incredible things, it’s amazing what he has done on and off the track with his message.”

He added, saying:

“Leclerc and Verstappen are exciting. Charles wins the audience because he has a normal background, he is not the son of a rich family in Monte Carlo. Then there is the up-and-coming generation of which [Lando] Norris and [Pierre] Gasly are a part.”

---

Lewis Hamilton said he “learnt more from failures” than he did while winning in previous seasons

Lewis Hamilton has claimed that he learned more from his failures than he did from his successes. Despite his struggles in 2022, the seven-time world champion said that the work he has been doing to help Mercedes return to winning ways hasn’t felt like failure. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said:

“I would say that actually I’ve learnt more from the failures. Success and everything is a beautiful thing, but you learn way, way more when you stumble, and fall.”

Meanwhile, ahead of the 2022 British GP, Lewis Hamilton hopes to return to notch his first victory of the season in front of his home crowd after a strong performance in Montreal last time out.