Ralf Schumacher warns Hamilton: tidy Monza can’t mask “too much” chaos at Zandvoort
Lewis Hamilton got through Monza without tripping over himself. That’s the good news. The bad news, according to Ralf Schumacher, is that Ferrari’s new signing is still making mistakes that don’t belong on a driver of his experience — and they’re starting to cost.
Hamilton arrived in Italy carrying a five-place grid penalty for failing to slow under double yellows on the formation run to the grid at Zandvoort. He promptly put a decent lap together for P5 in qualifying, only to start 10th and grind out P6 at the flag. Solid, efficient, but not spectacular — and a lingering reminder of a Dutch Grand Prix weekend that went sideways.
Zandvoort was where it unravelled. Hamilton twice looped the car and then lost it for good after putting a wheel on the painted white line into Turn 3 in mixed conditions. Post‑race, the stewards added that penalty for the Monza weekend. For Schumacher, watching on for Sky Deutschland, that’s a pattern Ferrari can’t afford.
“He needs to be a bit more professional,” Schumacher said. “With his experience, that really shouldn’t happen. He has to be careful with things like that so the fans continue to support him — that could also annoy the Tifosi.”
Schumacher’s broader point is hard to argue. Before the summer shut‑off, Hamilton’s season sagged under two bruising rounds: back‑to‑back Q1 eliminations at Spa across sprint qualifying and the main session, followed by a recovery drive to seventh; then Hungary, where he fell in Q2 and ended up a lap down and out of the points after a skirmish and an off while dicing with Max Verstappen. Hamilton didn’t sugarcoat it, calling himself “useless, absolutely useless” and joking “they probably need to change driver” given Ferrari’s one‑lap form.
The mood improved after the break, but the Zandvoort error was a gut punch — the sort of slip that simply looks worse when you’re in scarlet. And that’s Schumacher’s warning: Ferrari’s supporters tolerate errors about as well as the car tolerates the white lines at Turn 3.
Monza was a palette cleanser, if not a statement. Hamilton made early gains, kept his nose clean, and had enough speed to stay in range of George Russell’s Mercedes late on. He reckoned Ferrari missed a trick there. “I think I could have got fifth,” he said afterwards. “We could have tried to undercut him. We missed that opportunity.” With Verstappen and both McLarens in their own league up front, fourth or better was never really on.
So where does this leave the Hamilton‑Ferrari project? Still searching for a first podium together, and with Hamilton sitting sixth in the standings with eight rounds to run, 42 points down on Charles Leclerc. Given Ferrari’s winless 2025 campaign to date, the margins are thin, and every self‑inflicted wound stings twice: once on Sunday, then again in the championship arithmetic on Monday.
The pace, as Schumacher conceded, is there in flashes. The issue is that Hamilton’s “flash” weekends have been too often interrupted by unforced errors — and that contrast is louder in red. The Scuderia hired him for the heavy lifting: the execution under pressure, the off‑week damage limitation, the cold‑blooded reading of risk in changeable conditions. Zandvoort offered the opposite, and the Monza penalty was the receipt.
If you’re looking for silver linings, there are a few. The Ferrari is quick enough on Saturdays to put Hamilton in the fight more often than not, and his racecraft did the rest at Monza. He also sounds sharper in the debriefs — less self‑flagellation, more focus on operational gains like the missed undercut. That’s usually the prelude to a cleaner run.
But there’s no escaping the optics. Ferrari’s grand plan was Hamilton’s consistency married to Maranello’s speed. Instead, they’ve had inconsistency exposing every strategic half‑step. And in a season where Verstappen and McLaren are hoovering up the big points, Ferrari can’t afford to waste the small ones.
Schumacher’s nudge, then, lands in the right place. Hamilton doesn’t need reinvention. He needs a fortnight of boring: error‑free Fridays, tidy qualifying laps, conservative margins in mixed conditions, and an opportunist’s Sunday. Do that, and the podium drought should end — and the tifosi will sing his name rather than sigh his mistakes.
For now, Monza was calm after the storm. Hamilton’s job is making sure the next storm doesn’t start with him.
