‘Schumacher never did that’: Lewis Hamilton faces Ferrari criticism

Lewis Hamilton has been told he should take a leaf out of Michael Schumacher's book when it comes to publicly expressing his frustrations with Ferrari.

Former Maranello race engineer Rob Smedley has questioned the seven-time world champion's approach after his 2026 title bid fell apart after the summer break.

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Hamilton's frustration with his team's race strategy - and a perceived lack of rules of engagement with team-mate Charles Leclerc - has tensions simmering in Italy.

Smedley, who was part of the Scuderia's ultra-successful team when Schumacher was winning titles just after the turn of the century, believes the British star has got it wrong.

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Smedley on Hamilton comments - 'I don't agree with that'

Speaking on the High Performance Racing podcast, he said: "The amount of public comments he's making, I don't agree with that."

When fellow panelist Otmar Szafnauer chimed in with "Michael never did that", Smedley added: "No, never. We used to f*** it up royally on occasion and Michael would never ever come out and say anything against the team.

"I just don't think it's right to put the team under public pressure like that. You can put them under pressure internally."

Public criticism not the way to build a great team

Smedley was at pains to point out that the type of public criticism Hamilton is serving up does not foster the internal vibe that a successful team needs.

"We talk about it all the time - what makes a great team? Pressure - pressure's never not gonna be there - and psychological safety. Calling people out publicly is not building psychological safety.

"The point I would make is this. You never hear anything about the car and the engine. that's the really difficult part in Formula 1. I don't want to say the race management is easy, but it's not as hard as building as a fast car."

Why is Hamilton going public with Ferrari criticism?

Smedley says the increase in Hamilton's negative comments in 2026 has been very noticeable, and floated an intriguing theory about why that might be.

"I think Lewis does wear his heart on his sleeve. Maybe he says things beyond what he should be saying.

"But, I think this is now two years of frustration around this particular thing for him.

"And you didn't hear this much last year, but you're hearing it more and more this year. Last year he was struggling a bit with Charles so perhaps they weren't as close.

"He's not a stupid guy, in fact he's quite the opposite. And has he taken a decision here to start to talk about this more publicly because he thinks that is the lever that he needs to force change and force improvement?"

Hamilton left battling for second place in title race

Hamilton's struggles since the summer break (he has been beaten by Leclerc in eight of the last 12 races) sees him now left to fight for second place in the title race.

He currently sits fourth in the Drivers' standings - 18 points behind second-placed Max Verstappen and now just 12 ahead of Leclerc.

That still represents a huge improvement on his debut season at Maranello - he ended 2025 in sixth in the standings and finished a massive 86 points behind Leclerc.

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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