Ralf Schumacher tells Charles Leclerc to seek ‘mental coaching’ over Lewis Hamilton deficit

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Ralf Schumacher has advised Charles Leclerc to seek “mental coaching” as Lewis Hamilton continues to flex his muscles over him in the Ferrari teammate battle.

Despite finally out-qualifying Lewis Hamilton at the most recent Austrian Grand Prix for the first time since Miami, Charles Leclerc severely lacked race pace as the Briton took the chequered flag three places ahead of him in P5.

What went wrong for Ferrari at the Austrian Grand Prix?

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In the media pen after the race, Leclerc admitted his and Ferrari’s engineers’ bewilderment over his lack of consistency this year, noting that he had opted to run a similar setup to what he used at last year’s edition of the race weekend to no avail.

With the Monegasque driver having endured a difficult run of form against his teammate for a matter of months now, F1 pundit Ralf Schumacher believes it is time for Leclerc to seek some outside assistance in order to get back to his very best.

• READ MORE: British Grand Prix predictions as F1 experts name the winner and the top Brit at Silverstone

Ralf Schumacher says Lewis Hamilton’s ‘mind games’ is not helping Charles Leclerc

Speaking via the Backstage Boxengasse podcast, Schumacher outlined how obvious it now is that the 28-year-old needs to try something different to save himself from languishing even further behind Hamilton in the F1 standings.

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“One thing is clear: the regulations or the car, probably more the regulations, aren’t quite playing into his hands,” the six-time Grand Prix winner said. “That means he now has to adapt to the new situation again and try to come to terms with the regulations.

“Charles Leclerc is someone who tries to compensate for a deficit by putting in extra effort, which ultimately leads to him making a lot of mistakes. That’s just the way he is, but he needs to realise the car’s limits.”

Schumacher previously drew attention to Hamilton’s “mind games” with Leclerc after his crash during qualifying for the Barcelona Grand Prix. Of course, the 41-year-old went on to claim his first Ferrari victory that day, while Leclerc was forced to retire from the race.

“Above all, I think he needs to go home and get some mental coaching or advice, because Hamilton is seizing the opportunity here to pile on a bit more pressure and so on,” Schumacher continued.

“He’s learnt that from his time with Nico Rosberg – the two of them are obviously grandmasters of mind games – and naturally, that doesn’t help Charles Leclerc either.

• READ MORE: Nico Rosberg once recalled the ‘traumatic’ experience he had with a Lewis Hamilton fan at Monza

“I’d be a bit cautious right now, as far as the whole season is concerned, because further development will then show who copes better with it in the end.

“Lewis Hamilton is driving at a really high level and is simply making the Ferrari the better car at the moment. So that’s great. I’m also happy for him after the misery of last year. You could almost call it misery. Now it’s the complete opposite.”