F1 legend Lewis Hamilton ignored Sebastian Vettel language advice

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel stand side by side at the 2025 Brazilian Grand Prix — Photo: © IMAGO

Lewis Hamilton ignored Sebastian Vettel language advice

Lewis Hamilton had a torrid 2025 at Ferrari

Originally written by Sam Cook. This version is a translation.

Sunday 4 January 2026 01:00

Sebastian Vettel has revealed some language advice that he gave to seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton, advice that the Brit doesn't seem to have taken on board.

Vettel raced with Ferrari between 2015-2020, in a similar situation to Hamilton, where he was desperately searching for another world championship title.

However, it didn't happen for Vettel and, despite winning 14 grands prix with the Maranello outfit, his time there is largely regarded as a failure.

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Hamilton has suffered an even worse fate since joining Ferrari, not picking up a single grand prix podium across 24 race weekends.

Now, Vettel has revealed the piece of advice that he gave to the seven-time world champion before his arrival in Maranello.

"I think that's a crucial mistake that I've done, looking back," Vettel told the Beyond the Grid podcast. "I learned Italian, I took classes, and I sort of got along and I understood, but I wasn't perfect.

"And I told Lewis before when he made the move, I said: 'The only advice I can give you, the best advice I can give you, is learn the language. Learn it really, really well.' The way to learn a language, you have to expose yourself, so you start to speak to the people, you are in the country where they speak the language, so you're exposing yourself to the culture, so the rest will then fall into place.

"Now, of course, with racing and when you talk about your set-up and so on, you could argue it's irrelevant - it is irrelevant, but for the bigger picture, to get the culture and the spirit, it is so important."

Does Hamilton know Italian?

While Hamilton has made some effort to learn Italian since joining Ferrari last January, the seven-time world champion admitted at a sponsor event last year that he was not the best at the language.

Asked how is Italian was at a Peroni event later in 2025, he said: "Not great. I started out having lots and lots of lessons, and then the season just got so hectic and I’ve kind of like fallen off a cliff. I need to get back on. I was on like Duolingo, I was doing other stuff; weeks and weeks and weeks I was good at it, and now literally I’ve done nothing for the last couple of months.

"I really want to move to Italy, but it’s been almost impossible this year. I’m there every week, but my dream is to be able to properly speak Italian."

Hamilton is hoping for improved performance in 2026, when he gets to drive a new generation of F1 car with the new regulations sweeping into the sport, but maybe gaining a better grip on the Italian language will also be crucial to his success.

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Sebastian Vettel