Sebastian Vettel reveals the ‘only advice’ he had for Lewis Hamilton ahead of the seven-time world champion’s switch to Ferrari. The German former F1 driver himself moved from Red Bull to the Italian team in 2015 after winning multiple world titles, but admitted to a ‘crucial mistake’ when he moved to Maranello: ‘I really should have learned more Italian.’
Lewis Hamilton is not the first world champion to try his luck at Ferrari. Among others, Sebastian Vettel preceded the Brit. The German champion moved to Maranello in 2015, after winning four world titles while serving Red Bull. Although Vettel found success at Ferrari – the German reached the top step of the podium fourteen times in Ferrari red – he never won another world title.
‘Heart and culture are Italian’
The German driver is thus an expert in the culture shock that a switch to Ferrari brings. Vettel warned Hamilton before the Brit started at the Scuderia in 2025. According to the former F1 driver, it remains difficult for the seven-time world champion to understand the Ferrari culture until he truly speaks Italian. “The heart and culture of the team are Italian, even though the working language is English,” Vettel explains in the Beyond The Grid podcast.”He understands everyone on the team, but there are also staff members he doesn’t understand because they don’t speak English or don’t speak English well,” continues the four-time world champion. “If you don’t speak a language well, you can interact with people, but do you really understand them? Do you understand the culture?”
Vettel’s Advice to Hamilton
Although Lewis Hamilton began learning Italian prior to his move to Ferrari, Vettel believes it’s not enough. “In hindsight, that’s a crucial mistake I made. I learned Italian, I took lessons, I got along well with everyone and I understood it, but I wasn’t perfect. I really should have learned more Italian, maybe spent more time in Italy to better understand the culture.”
Vettel therefore tried to prevent Hamilton from making the same ‘mistake’. “When Lewis made the switch, I told him: ‘The only advice I can give you, the best advice, is: learn the language, really learn the language well.'”
