Ferrari won’t give Lewis Hamilton the Michael Schumacher treatment if he enters an F1 title race

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Ferrari have been dreaming of winning a championship since 2008, and this season they have two drivers who will believe that they could be in contention.

Mercedes are the current leaders of the constructors’ championship, but Ferrari have finished third and fourth in both Grand Prix so far.

Ferrari are already planning updates to their car and believe they know what they need to do to reel in the Silver Arrows.

Fred Vasseur refuses to use team orders at Ferrari – Is he wrong?

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Lewis Hamilton got the better of Charles Leclerc across the Chinese Grand Prix weekend and finished within a second of his teammate in Australia.

Hamilton hasn’t been in a title fight since 2021, and journalist Chris Medland has explained how Ferrari might approach a championship battle if both of their drivers are in contention.

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Ferrari won’t prioritise Lewis Hamilton in F1 championship battle if Charles Leclerc is involved

Medland was asked by Off The Ball what rules Ferrari would impose if both of their drivers were in title contention this season, and he said: “It’s a really interesting question because we’ve been used to Ferrari imposing team rules or team orders in the past with the way they fought for titles.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem for them this year, even if they do bring themselves into the mix for a championship.

“I think it’ll be far enough down the line where we’re really like seriously saying, ‘Hey, Ferrari, one of the drivers could win the title here,’ that one of them is more likely to have put themselves in position than the other.

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“So, I think they’d then kind of let that play out naturally, and it’s only when it gets towards the business end, and they maybe have to go behind one, that you might see those decisions made for them.

“They don’t have to choose between two. They’re on an even keel, so it will be whoever’s got the advantage. But there’s also the chance that they don’t quite get to that point, and in that sense, I don’t think they’ll make that call, partly because I think it is so difficult to make.

“I do think, as you say, when you’ve got seven more titles, how do you say to Lewis

Hamilton, you’re playing second fiddle to Charles Leclerc.

“But then, when you’ve been Ferrari’s driver through the whole system, and you’ve been winning races, and you’ve been waiting for this opportunity for so long in Leclerc’s case, how do you then have Lewis show up and in his second year be told you’re second to him.”

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Michael Schumacher’s number one treatment at Ferrari can’t be repeated for Lewis Hamilton

Although Kimi Raikkonen is the last driver to win a championship for Ferrari, everybody who races for the team wants to follow in Michael Schumacher’s footsteps.

He won an unprecedented five titles in a row, but he did so with the help of a very willing teammate.

Rubens Barrichello was Schumacher’s number two at Ferrari and pivotal to the team’s success in the 2000s.

The Brazilian won nine races to Schumacher’s 72 during their time with Ferrari, and once said in an interview with Beyond the Grid, “Was Schumacher better than me? I think so. But 51-49? 70-30? I don’t know. We will never know, because it was something that it was not supposed to let you free.”

Barrichello gave up victory at the 2002 Austrian GP to Schumacher due to team orders, even though the German already had double the number of points of his nearest championship rival, Juan Pablo Montoya.

Damon Hill once shared that he had been approached to become Schumacher’s number two driver and turned down the move as a result.

It’s impossible to believe that Fred Vasseur would ask Leclerc or Hamilton to act like this as early in the season as Barrichello did for Schumacher. But if one driver drops out of contention, then that could change the dynamic drastically.