Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been tipped to be at odds as Ferrari‘s 2026 Formula 1 challenger is dubbed a “looming disaster” by Ralf Schumacher.
At the start of the 2025 campaign, Leclerc had remarked that he felt Hamilton had a very similar driving style to his. Almost a year on, the Monegasque’s initial assessment of his team-mate hasn’t aged really well.
The seven-time World Champion has publicly struggled to cope during his maiden season for the Maranello-based team – both on and off the track.
While Hamilton has struggled to assimilate within the setup at Ferrari, he had also not been able to get a firm grip on the inherent characteristics of the SF-25.
This meant he was comprehensively outdone by Leclerc over the course of the season, and finished his first-ever F1 campaign without a single piece of Grand Prix silverware to show for it.
Naturally, heading into his sophomore year with the Scuderia, and with the new regulations beckoning, the 41-year-old would want to drive development to suit his liking.
This is where Schumacher believes he will be at odds with Leclerc; and if true, Ferrari’s 2026 season is doomed to fail even before a single lap has been run by the SF-26.
“As for Ferrari, disaster already seems to be looming again, at least reading between the lines,” he told the German branch of Sky.
Hamilton and Leclerc’s polar opposite demands could jeopardise F1 2026 for Ferrari
Hamilton is known to prefer rear stability over an extremely ‘bitey’ or responsive front-end. Leclerc on the other hand, is immune to the quirks of Ferrari’s inconsistent yet snappy packages.
Schumacher is of the opinion that this has left the engineering camp divided between these two stark opposite driving demands – forcing them to divide crucial resources and time to develop two sets of cars instead of focusing on perfecting a single design philosophy.
“That’s what stands out the most once more. They appear to be developing two different cars. I can almost imagine that this is because Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have completely different views on the car,” he added.
“If that’s the case, it’s a disaster from the outset — I’ve always said you can’t develop two cars. And Fred Vasseur has hinted at it himself as well. So it all seems far from ideal.”
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