Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert believes Lewis Hamilton has the same “wonderful ability” that Michael Schumacher had to explain what was needed from a car.

Hamilton took in his first ever laps in a Ferrari at Fiorano on Wednesday when he drove in their 2023 challenger, with tifosi lining the streets around Maranello to witness the occasion.

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Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were both at Ferrari’s in-house test track for their first laps of the year, with the seven-time World Champion meeting the Scuderia’s loyal supporters after his run to show his appreciation.

Schumacher built his title-winning dynasty in the early 2000s at Ferrari, and Herbert, who spent much of his career on the same grid as the German, explained that Hamilton shows the same characteristics of being able to translate the “human element” of what a driver needs from a car that Schumacher also had.

Alongside that, he believes there is a chance for the Scuderia to put themselves back at the front of the field, in the right circumstances.

“2025 is a good opportunity for Ferrari to improve from what they had in 2024, and come with a much more competitive package for 2025,” Herbert told Casinoutanspelpaus.io.

“It just may be the right timing, but then going further forward for 2026, where it’s the same thing, it’s still about getting the car right.

“The drivers’ comments are still very important. There have been times over the last five years where the simulator and their algorithm are the most important thing and it’s the biggest direction they use for the development of the car.

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“And then as we’ve seen with Mercedes, just for example, where they struggled like hell and then they started listening to the drivers a little bit more and that helped them as well.

“There’s always a human element that has to come into play. Someone like Hamilton has that wonderful ability to be able to explain what is going on underneath them in the car and what they’re expecting from the car.

“The man that I always saw do that, probably for the first time, is Michael Schumacher. He made sure that Rory Byrne, Ross Brawn and Jean Todt had an understanding and they understood what Michael wanted from the car.

“That allowed them to go away and for Rory, especially the designer, to give him the tools that he needed. That’s the human element that Michael Schumacher gave to a team.

“That’s still important today and I think Hamilton is one of those who can bring that type of power to the team.

“There’s no reason that Ferrari should not have improved than what they had last year. Yes, I know everybody else is going to improve to a degree, but there’s no reason why they can’t.”

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