Schumacher says Hamilton not quick enough against Leclerc

Ralf Schumacher has said Lewis Hamilton is taking a position at Ferrari that his pace does not justify, pointing to the gap to team-mate Charles Leclerc. Speaking to Sky Deutschland, he said Hamilton would not face this discussion if he were clearly quicker than his team-mate, as his own brother Michael had been at the time.

The comments follow tensions between Hamilton and Leclerc after the Mexican Grand Prix, and another difficult race in Brazil where Hamilton again did not follow a team strategy call. Hamilton said he had not been warned about worsening rain at Interlagos and that the pit call came late, but accepted the responsibility, apologising to the team. A similar incident occurred at Singapore, where he ignored a pit call under the Virtual Safety Car and lost a potential podium.

Ferrari commentator Leo Turrini also questioned whether the internal rivalry was distracting from bigger problems, including Max Verstappen's expected second place in the drivers' championship and whether the team has a convincing plan for the future.