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Ferrari have been told to make an ‘extreme’ decision involving Lewis Hamilton if they want to win the 2026 Formula 1 world title.
On Sunday, Ferrari enjoyed another stellar weekend as Charles Leclerc won the British Grand Prix, coming home ahead of George Russell and Hamilton.
With Kimi Antonelli falling out of the points after a five-second penalty, the title race is now firmly heating up.
As things stand, Antonelli leads Russell by 25 points and Hamilton by 32 points, with Leclerc 71 points behind the young Italian.
While it is expected that the two Mercedes drivers will be allowed to fight on track, Ferrari have been urged to make an ‘extreme’ call which will give them and Hamilton the best chance of beating the Silver Arrows.
How has the British Grand Prix changed your outlook on the F1 title race?
Rob Smedley tells Ferrari their ‘one and only strategy’ that could allow Lewis Hamilton to win F1 title
With 39 points between the two Ferrari stars and Hamilton showing fine form, Rob Smedley has told the Scuderia their ‘one and only strategy’.
Smedley, who worked for Ferrari from 2004 to 2013, touched on the fact that Ferrari will have the best chance of winning the driver’s world title if they prioritised Hamilton.
The 52-year-old stated that if they continue to ‘play the game’ of allowing their drivers to race freely, the chances of winning the world championship will begin to slip away.
Appearing on the latest episode of the High Performance Racing podcast, Smedley was asked whether Ferrari should have swapped Leclerc and Hamilton around when they were running P1 and P2 at Silverstone.
In response, Smedley said: “I’m going to go against my own sense of logic on this and say I actually think that doing something as extreme as that is the only chance Ferrari have of winning this world championship.
“I think that if they kind of play the game of trying to outpace Mercedes in car terms and then they play the game of allowing the drivers to race each other with such a big gap between Lewis and Charles, the probability significantly diminishes for them to win the drivers’ world championship.
“I think that although it goes against my logic, as Otmar (Szafnauer) said, there are too many variables coming up, so why would you ever do it? But I think that is the one and only strategy that they’ve got for Lewis winning this world championship.”
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Smedley was then asked whether Michael Schumacher would be pushing for team orders in his favour if he were in Hamilton’s position.
The former race engineer said: “Yep, one-word answer, yes, of course he would have been.”
In truth, it seems unlikely that Ferrari will put their eggs all into one basket, especially when the season is still at an early stage.
However, if Hamilton continues his fine form and Mercedes’ reliability issues return, Ferrari will reach a point where they will have to make a decision about team orders.
The 2026 Formula 1 campaign will continue next weekend with the Belgian Grand Prix, taking place at Spa-Francorchamps.
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