Michael Schumacher knew Lewis Hamilton was special when he watched one ‘tremendous’ race

Lewis Hamilton will become the latest F1 legend to race for Ferrari when he makes his debut at the Australian Grand Prix in March. He’s chasing an eighth world championship to surpass Michael Schumacher at the top of the all-time list.

Hamilton won’t match Schumacher’s haul of five titles with the Scuderia. He’s about to turn 40, which is just one of multiple obstacles.

But the Englishman will nonetheless cement himself as a Ferrari great if he brings the championship to Maranello. Kimi Raikkonen was their last drivers’ champion in 2007, and he helped Felipe Massa deliver the constructors’ in 2008 too.

Since then, both Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso have failed to end the drought. If they provide a worthy car, Ferrari can be confident that the Hamilton-Charles Leclerc partnership is the answer.

When Schumacher joined the Italian giants in 1996, he was the reigning world champion. At 27, he was effectively 13 years younger than Hamilton.

Hamilton could turn into ‘Superman’ at Ferrari, David Coulthard says, but there were worrying signs of decline in his 2024 qualifying performances. Thus, there is a surprising amount of uncertainty surrounding the sport’s most successful driver.

Michael Schumacher wasn’t ‘surprised’ by Lewis Hamilton after watching 2006 Turkey GP2 race

When Hamilton made his F1 debut for McLaren in 2007, Schumacher had just retired. The German would make a comeback in 2010 for the revived Mercedes team, racing alongside Nico Rosberg.

Thus Hamilton had the opportunity to share the track with the Regenmeister before his second and final retirement. Incidentally, it was his exit that opened up a spot at Mercedes in 2013.

Hamilton produced arguably the finest rookie season in history, winning four races and scoring podiums in 12 out of 17 events. He was on course for the title before a disastrous retirement at the Chinese GP when he beached his car in the gravel.

Schumacher saw it coming. He first met him at the 2006 Turkish GP, where Hamilton, racing in the GP2 support category, charged from 19th to second in the Sprint.

“He’s a very talented driver,” Schumacher said in a 2007 interview shared on F1’s YouTube channel. “None of us are surprised he’s that successful. I followed his GP2 season a little bit closely because the team owner and manager, Nicolas Todt, is very close to us.

“I just met him briefly in Turkey and had a quick chat with him. It was actually a tremendous race he did over there. For me, it’s not a surprise that he shows up and does what he’s doing. It’s a surprise he does it that consistently so early. But we cross fingers he keeps it up.”

Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton – which driver would Karun Chandhok drop?

Hamilton won’t receive the same fanfare as Schumacher when he makes his first test appearance for Ferrari in the coming weeks. This is a deliberate ploy from team principal Fred Vasseur.

The Frenchman wants the team to be as focused as possible on their preparations. Thus, any publicity is likely to be tightly controlled, and it’s unlikely fans will be in attendance.

Hamilton can establish himself as the undisputed statistical ‘G.O.A.T’ if he wins an eighth title in scarlet red. But that won’t stop debates raging.

Karun Chandhok said he’d cut Ayrton Senna in favour of Hamilton and Schumacher. He views them as better ‘team players’ than the Brazilian, which was the deciding factor.