Formula 1 legend Lewis Hamilton has been tipped to quit his new Ferrari team as early as this year.
The 40-year-old has endured a tricky start to his first season with the Scuderia, cutting a dejected figure across race weekends where he’ll often speak of his persistent struggles adapting to the new machinery.
Hamilton is a seven-time champion and has adapted to a new environment once before upon his move from McLaren to Mercedes, but this time around, the British racer has failed to click with the SF-25.
Speaking on Backstage Boxengasse, Sky Sports Germany’s F1 podcast, former racer and pundit Ralf Schumacher detailed why he believes Hamilton could throw in the towel if no improvements are made across the next few races.
Schumacher issues grim Hamilton F1 forecast
Hamilton’s woes at Ferrari alongside Charles Leclerc, who is currently navigating his seventh campaign with the Italian outfit, were perhaps most prevalent in Jeddah last weekend.
Leclerc steered his Ferrari to P3, bringing home the first grand prix podium of 2025 for the Maranello team, but following his P7 finish on Sunday, Hamilton appeared to have run out of excuses for his lack of success, admitting: “Clearly the car is capable of being P3 so Charles did a great job today so… I can’t blame it on that.”
The former Mercedes man has shown glimpses of potential, most notably by securing the Chinese sprint race win in March, but following another disappointing weekend, Schumacher does not see things ending well for Hamilton on his current trajectory.
“He just can’t cope with the car. We talk a lot about Lando Norris, but it’s almost worse with him. You can see that, he’s really slumped over. If you’re standing there at some point and have no more resources and are permanently slower, then you lose everything.”
Drawing from his decade of experience in the pinnacle of motorsport, Schumacher continued: “I know from my own experience: if it goes on like this, it’s no fun anymore. Then at some point he wakes up in the morning and thinks to himself: ‘Why am I doing this to myself? I’m no longer having fun, I can’t do it anymore. I’m getting in the way of my team.”