Ralf Schumacher sees Lewis Hamilton’s ‘big issue’ that Ferrari should have ‘less sympathy’ for

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Lewis Hamilton has “surprised” Ralf Schumacher with the extent that the seven-time F1 champion continually struggles “so much” since joining Ferrari in the 2025 season.

The 40-year-old made his move to Maranello after 12 seasons with Mercedes in the hope of reviving his stuttering career. Hamilton agreed to sign an initial two-year contract for Ferrari in February 2024 after suffering winless seasons for the first time in his career in ‘22 and ‘23.

Hamilton even penned his lowest finish in the F1 drivers’ championship ever in 2024, as the Briton only managed seventh place with 223 points for his lowest since scoring 189 in 2013. Yet Hamilton is only sixth in the standings with 117 points after 16 rounds as a Ferrari driver.

The 2025 F1 season is also yet to return a Grand Prix podium for Hamilton, who had always reached a rostrum within the first 10 rounds of a season in his career before joining Ferrari. His best finishes in red so far are P4s in the Emilia Romagna GP, Austrian GP and British GP.

Ralf Schumacher would have ‘less sympathy’ for Lewis Hamilton’s mistakes as Ferrari’s team principal

Hamilton suggested Ferrari “need to change driver” after he qualified just P12 for the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix, as well as branding himself “useless”. But while Schumacher did not expect Hamilton to fight for the drivers’ title, he also did not expect such a persistent plight.

READ MORE: How Lewis Hamilton’s mid-2025 results compare to Ferrari’s past champions

“I’m a bit surprised by how the season has gone,” Schumacher told T-Online. He also added: “I had said before the start of this year that things wouldn’t be easy for him at Ferrari.

“Charles Leclerc is a strong driver as a teammate and, from the very beginning, I considered the idea of ​​Hamilton challenging for the title in his first year to be very bold, if not impossible. After all, he hadn’t had any testing and had to adapt to a different car.

“But I didn’t expect him to struggle so much over such a long period. You have to consider he earns a lot of money there and came with the expectation of being a top performer. And so far, that hasn’t worked out at all.”

But Schumacher admits he would have “less sympathy” for Hamilton if he were Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur, as the 105-time Grand Prix winner’s main issue is not his speed but a lack of consistency. Schumacher has even seen mistakes that Hamilton should never make.

Schumacher continued: “At least speed isn’t a big issue anymore. Lewis was relatively close to the front at Zandvoort and Monza. Consistency is the issue. And for him to spin twice at Zandvoort, shoot the car into the tyres, and then get a penalty for entering the pit lane too fast? With his experience, that shouldn’t happen to him.

“As a team boss, I’d have less sympathy for that… I really hope this is just a lapse in concentration. But if these things happen to him because he’s already pushing the car to the limit, that wouldn’t be a good sign.”

Lewis Hamilton is getting closer to Charles Leclerc in qualifying, but must improve in races

Hamilton qualified P7 for the Dutch Grand Prix with a deficit of just 0.050 seconds to Leclerc in P6 during Q3. Ferrari also saw the Briton lap Monza within 0.117s of Leclerc, yet Hamilton had a five-place grid penalty for the Italian Grand Prix for the pit lane incident at Zandvoort.

The race stewards at Zandvoort ruled that Hamilton did not slow enough, while ignoring the double-waved yellow flags, as he practised attacking the pit entry before the Dutch GP with personnel already on the grid. Yet the verdict did not come through until after the Dutch GP.

Hamilton crashed out of the Dutch GP, as well, as a downgraded upshift caused the rear of his Ferrari SF-25 to lock while on the damp, painted advertising on the outside of Turn 3. It was the Briton’s first DNF with Ferrari, on top of Hamilton’s Chinese GP disqualification.

So, while Hamilton might be getting closer to Leclerc in qualifying, Ferrari must see his race results to improve. The Briton is losing 12-4 to the Monegasque in their qualifying head-to-head and 12-2 for their Grand Prix results, prior to the Azerbaijan GP in Baku this weekend.