– “Suboptimal” is what expert Ralf Schumacher calls the dispute at Ferrari last weekend in Zandvoort. Lewis Hamilton, in particular, criticized his team several times on Sunday because he felt he was losing valuable time behind his teammate Charles Leclerc.
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“I can understand a certain frustration,” Schumacher says in Sky’s podcast Backstage Boxengasse, but also clarifies that such situations should be resolved internally – and not over team radio, which is audible to the whole world, or in post-race interviews.
About Hamilton and Leclerc, the six-time Grand Prix winner says: “Both of them need to sit down, and I believe the boss also needs to lay down the law. Because in the end, it’s about the brand, not the drivers. It’s about the team.”
Schumacher finds Hamilton’s behavior particularly unacceptable. “At his age, with his standing, one could handle it a bit differently,” says Schumacher, who in this context recalls Hamilton’s own problems in the 2025 season.
Back then, it was the record world champion himself who didn’t deliver the expected performance. Nevertheless, the team always supported him, which is why Schumacher believes it’s now unacceptable in return “to criticize the team publicly.”
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Photo Gallery: Zandvoort: Driver ratings from Marc Surer and the editorial team
The expert looks back at his own Formula 1 career and emphasizes: “With us, that wouldn’t have happened. Frank Williams would have kicked my ass, and Patrick Head even more so. It didn’t exist. That was an absolute no-go, no matter which direction.”
“In the end, it’s a team, a unit. And it can only function if it tries to stand together,” says Schumacher, explaining that Leclerc and Hamilton apparently still need to learn “to paddle in the same direction.”
“All of that is part of it,” he says about the disagreements that will always exist. “But not like this,” criticizes the former Jordan, Williams, and Toyota driver.
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Hamilton himself has since apologized for the incident. “That wasn’t my best side. I take responsibility for it and will improve,” he announced on social media.
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