Ralf Schumacher isn’t buying the romance. As Ferrari grapples with a split-screen season — Charles Leclerc banking results while Lewis Hamilton searches for a foothold — the former grand prix winner says Hamilton’s approach is doing little to steady the ship.
“I see a lot of drama with him,” Schumacher told BILD, pointing to internal complaints, public barbs and a car that looks made for Leclerc, not Hamilton. “Maybe he’s too old to adapt. Or maybe he just can’t cope. I think the decision to go with Leclerc was made a long time ago.”
That’s a blunt reading of a tense summer. Hamilton’s dream move has yet to yield a single podium, while Leclerc has been the one carrying Ferrari’s Sunday momentum and even delivered the team’s first pole of the season in Hungary. On a track where Hamilton has won eight times, he slumped to 12th on the grid and 12th at the flag — and then cut a frustrated figure. He called himself “useless,” quipped Ferrari should “change driver” after his Q2 exit, and when the topic was raised again post-race, offered: “I have nothing else to say.”
Asked if he’d be in the car after the break for Zandvoort, Hamilton managed a half-smile and a hedge: “I look forward to coming back… Hopefully I will be back, yeah.”
Inside Maranello, the dynamics aren’t subtle. Leclerc’s confidence in rotation and rotation in the data makes the SF-25 look lively; Hamilton’s side hasn’t found the window often enough. That inevitably fuels the paddock chatter Schumacher is now voicing publicly: Ferrari’s eggs, by design or by drift, are in Leclerc’s basket.
Still, Hamilton’s not retreating. He’s been sending documents, challenging processes and pressing leadership to move the organization faster. “I see a huge amount of potential within this team,” he said. “It’s a huge organisation, and there are a lot of moving parts. Not all of them are firing… I feel it’s my job to challenge absolutely every area, particularly the guys at the top.”
He’s leaning on a career’s worth of hard lessons, insisting Ferrari can’t keep walking the same path and expect a different outcome. “I refuse for that to be the case with me,” Hamilton added, even tossing a glance Kimi Antonelli’s way as he noted he doesn’t have the luxury of time. The message: urgency, not nostalgia.
Schumacher, for his part, doesn’t expect a mid-season exit. Nor should anyone. Hamilton’s gaze is already drifting to 2026, when new chassis and engine regulations promise a proper reset. If Ferrari’s internal reboot meets that external shake-up, the story can still flip.
For now, though, the scoreboard is clear, the pressure sharper, and the honeymoon long over.
