Ralf Schumacher: If I’m Leclerc, I’m building a Plan B away from Ferrari
Ferrari’s season has been edgy for weeks, but John Elkann’s Milan missive lit the fuse. The Ferrari chairman, fresh off a bruising Interlagos weekend, publicly told Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to “focus on driving, talk less.” In Maranello-speak, that’s not a nudge; that’s a shove.
Ralf Schumacher heard it the same way. Speaking on Sky Deutschland, he called the statement “very serious,” the kind of top-down pressure release you get when the big-ticket decision hasn’t paid off. And in his view, one driver shouldn’t just take it on the chin.
“If I were Charles, I’d ask what that’s all about,” Schumacher said, essentially urging Leclerc to line up an exit route if the tone doesn’t change. The German was sympathetic to Leclerc’s season and ruthless on Hamilton’s: the most expensive personnel move in years, he argued, without the results to match.
Ferrari expected to arrive in 2025 as title fighters after dragging McLaren to the wire in last year’s Constructors’ finish. That promise has wilted. With three rounds left, the Scuderia is still hunting its first win of the year. Brazil only deepened the bruise: Leclerc was wiped out as collateral in the Piastri–Antonelli tangle, while Hamilton picked up terminal damage after tagging the back of Franco Colapinto’s Alpine. Two red cars, zero points.
Elkann’s comments, delivered at an event in Milan the same weekend Ferrari’s endurance outfit was winning big elsewhere, were framed internally as motivation. The chairman praised the mechanics and engineers, then clipped the drivers with that “talk less” line. Neither Leclerc nor Hamilton has sugarcoated the difficulties this season, but their messaging has broadly sounded like constructive criticism, not civil war.
Schumacher suspects Elkann’s tone reflects pressure over the Hamilton signing, which, in pure scoreboard terms, hasn’t turned the dial. He didn’t mince words about the seven-time champion: “The performance isn’t there… it was also a small warning to Lewis, because Lewis also had a tendency to be sad this year. Lewis Hamilton is simply not good enough.” Brutal? Very. Measured? Debatable. It does, however, capture the impatience around Maranello.
Leclerc, by contrast, has been one of the year’s steadiest operators. He’s stacked seven podiums and holds a sizeable points cushion over his team-mate. Which is why Schumacher can’t quite understand why Elkann’s glare seemed to catch both drivers equally. His advice to Leclerc was as much about self-respect as strategy: send the manager in, get answers, and make sure there’s a Plan B if the temperature doesn’t drop.
What would Plan B even look like? Today, not much. McLaren is locked down with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Mercedes has placed its future chips on George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. The notorious Red Bull second seat is a career roulette that Leclerc, at this stage, would surely avoid.
Next year is another story. The 2026 regulations could reshuffle the board, and the driver market tends to follow. If Red Bull’s in-house power unit stumbles, the Verstappen clause chatter will roar back to life, and suddenly a Leclerc–Red Bull conversation stops sounding like fantasy. Over at Aston Martin, Adrian Newey’s influence and a Honda works deal have the paddock sniffing around already. Fernando Alonso turns 45 next year and has hinted this might be his final lap of the calendar. If that door opens, Leclerc’s name will be on the shortlist.
None of that is a prediction. It’s the point. Options can appear overnight when new regs bite, and Ferrari can’t afford to alienate its franchise driver before the merry-go-round starts spinning. Right now, staying put is still the sensible path. But “right now” has a short shelf life in this sport.
There’s also a simpler fix: win something. One victory would lance the boil that’s formed around Ferrari’s season. Leclerc has driven well enough to deserve it; Hamilton is more than capable of delivering it. Elkann’s public line might land in the garage as motivation, might not. History suggests this team performs best when the heat is applied inward, not via press quotes.
Schumacher’s take will divide opinion—he often does—but it strikes a nerve. Leclerc has never had a proper title fight, yet he’s repeatedly shown the calibre to be in one. Ferrari, for all its grand history and fresh investment, still owes him that chance. If they can’t build it in red, someone else will be tempted to paint it green, blue, or whatever shade the 2026 upheaval demands.
Ferrari has a few weeks left to change the story before winter. A podium is no longer the headline. A win is. An arm around the shoulder wouldn’t hurt either.
