Ralf Schumacher says Lewis Hamilton is ‘not fast enough’ to be treated as Ferrari’s number one driver.

Hamilton has never publicly called for such treatment at Ferrari, but he did imply after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza that the team should have been prioritising his pursuit of Kimi Antonelli.

That came after Charles Leclerc shut the door on Hamilton on the opening lap, costing him six positions as he dipped his wheels in the gravel. Fred Vasseur had to deal with a similar flashpoint in Mexico, when Leclerc tried to pass his teammate at the start and both went off track.

Hamilton questioned Leclerc’s maturity because he refused to play the team game with the two drivers running one-two. He was 46 points clear of the Monegasque after the Austrian GP, but the gap has now shrunk to 10.

Ralf Schumacher asks ‘how good’ Lewis Hamilton really is

Ferrari have imposed unofficial driver hierarchies in the past, most notably in the Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso eras.

But speaking on Sky Sports Germany, via sport.de, Ralf Schumacher says the gap between Hamilton and Leclerc is too small to justify a return to that model.

“The problem is, he’s simply not fast enough compared to Charles Leclerc,” he said. “That means: if he were clearly better than his teammate, as was the case with my brother back then, this discussion wouldn’t even exist. He’s the one causing it.”

When Max Verstappen was asked about the Ferrari incident in Mexico, he reiterated that an F1 team can’t function with two ‘number one’ drivers. He was the beneficiary of the friendly fire as he snatched victory.

Schumacher raised questions over the level of both Ferrari drivers, having seen George Russell beat Hamilton before struggling against Kimi Antonelli.

“I’m no longer entirely sure who is how strong anymore. When you see how Lewis Hamilton was compared to George Russell, and how George Russell compares to Kimi Antonelli, you have to ask yourself, how good is Lewis really anymore?

“And conversely, how good is Charles Leclerc? Are they both still world champion material?”

The regulation changes complicate that analysis. Indeed, as Lando Norris pointed out, Hamilton’s rivalry with Leclerc only really began this year after the Monegasque convincingly beat him in the ground-effect cars.

Likewise, Russell saw off a rookie Antonelli comfortably in 2025 before the new cars caused a reset.

Asked if he had any advice for Hamilton, Schumacher said: “Always be in front! Drive a second, half a second faster than Charles! Win every race or be ahead of him! It’s that simple.”

Hamilton and Leclerc are the closest teammates on the grid in terms of the head-to-head scores. The latter leads 10-9 on a Saturday and 9-7 in the 16 Grands Prix both have finished.

Over a single lap, they have been separated by just four hundredths of a second (in Leclerc’s favour) on average.