Hamilton or Schumacher? F1 boss takes his pick in shock assessment

In the High Performance Podcast, the Williams team principal said Schumacher’s defining trait was his ability to maximise everything around him.

“Michael wasn’t the most skilful in the car, that was Lewis,” Vowles said. “But he knew how to extract every millisecond out of himself and every millisecond out of the team.”

Hamilton, according to Vowles, had a great deal of natural talent that would allow him to be on the pace immediately.

“When you go out in FP1, he’s like an octopus all over the wheel,” he explained. “He’ll change every setting, explore everything, and it’s what makes him incredible.”

Vowles recalled a moment in Brazil where the simulator recommended holding seventh gear up the hill. Hamilton's then teammate Nico Rosberg followed the instruction within two laps.

The Briton, however, trusted his instinct, dropped to sixth gear, and found a tenth of a second. “Lewis is this optimiser,” Vowles said. “He uses data as a starting point, but his feel for the car goes beyond that.”

That instinct often saw Hamilton push the limits from the start of a session, even if it meant going off track.

Early in his career, Vowles said, “Out of 20 laps, he’d do one. It was frustrating.” Over time, however, Hamilton matured and learned to complete every lap while still gathering the same level of insight.

Braking, Vowles noted, was always Hamilton’s greatest strength, using it to find the car’s limit and build rhythm. But his approach also had drawbacks.

“He’d change the car so quickly that sometimes you’d lose yourself,” Vowles said.

Even so, Vowles said Hamilton’s willingness to experiment and his willingness to accept being on the wrong setup for a whole session to learn set him apart. “Many drivers can’t do that. He can. That’s Lewis all over.”