F1 | Vettel's advice to Ferrari's Hamilton: "I told Lewis to learn Italian very well."

2025 was a year to forget, sportingly speaking, for Lewis Hamilton. The Englishman, who decided to embrace Ferrari's technical project, completing a long and successful run at Mercedes, encountered numerous difficulties driving the SF-25, which only affected his season's results.

The seven-time world champion, who finished the season 86 points behind his teammate Charles Leclerc in the overall standings, has experienced numerous lows and very few highs. Among the latter are his pole position and victory in the Shanghai Sprint Race.

Discussing the difficulties Hamilton experienced at Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel said that, in his opinion, learning Italian is essential for the Englishman to best integrate into both the team and its culture.

A piece of advice from someone who, even before Hamilton himself, experienced it firsthand, having driven for the Prancing Horse from 2015 to 2020.

"Every team is different, very different, and he was at Mercedes for a long time and then moved to Ferrari. There was definitely a big difference because the heart and culture of the team is Italian and the language is English," Vettel said in a recent interview on the Beyond The Grid podcast. "He understands everyone on the team, but there are employees he doesn't understand because they don't speak English or don't speak it very well. Even if you don't speak a language very well, you get along well, but can you really understand the people and the culture?"

Vettel, continuing his analysis, emphasized a key aspect: “I think it was a crucial mistake. I learned Italian, I took courses, and to a certain extent I got by and understood, but I wasn't perfect. If I could do it again, I would have to study Italian more, even spending more time in Italy to better understand the culture because it's made up of people. I told Lewis that the only advice I can give you is to learn the language very well. When it comes to set-up or technical details, you might say it's irrelevant, and it is. But for the bigger picture, to understand the culture and the spirit, it's still extremely important.”

The German then, discussing the victory Hamilton has yet to secure in red, added: “The longer it takes, the more difficult it becomes. I think he has an incredible ability to reflect on the situation he's in right now, the difficulties he might face, and I think he's still at a point in his life where that's what he wants to do. I think his performance has a good chance, but there are a lot of things that need to fall into place. You need a team, you need people, you need the timing to be perfect. It would be fantastic, and I think he deserves it.”