A growing number of Formula 1 insiders are reaching the same uncomfortable conclusion about Lewis Hamilton’s prospects of turning Ferrari into a championship-winning team.
The seven-time world champion arrived at Maranello ahead of the 2025 season carrying enormous expectations, billed as the experienced hand who could finally give the Scuderia the leadership it craved.
What followed that first year, however, was a stark statistical reality, with Charles Leclerc outqualifying his new team-mate 19 times to five across the full campaign.
Leclerc also claimed a superior finishing position in 18 of the 21 races in which at least one driver saw the chequered flag without disqualification, painting a difficult picture for Hamilton.
The 2026 season has offered some rehabilitation, with Hamilton broadly matching Leclerc across both qualifying and race results, narrowing a gap that had seemed uncomfortably wide twelve months earlier.
Yet persistent disputes over team orders and the so-called rules of engagement between the two drivers have overshadowed much of the second half of this year at Ferrari.
It is in that context that former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner, appearing on the Red Flags podcast, raised a pointed question about whether Hamilton is actually equipped for this particular challenge.
“But is he the guy who can make the team win? When strong drivers took over, they made it a success, but Fernando Alonso tried. Did he succeed? No. Do you think Lewis is the right guy to make this happen?”
Steiner went further by identifying Max Verstappen as a potentially transformative alternative, offering a direct and telling assessment of the Red Bull champion’s character.
“You know how Max is. He wouldn’t stop. He’s relentless. That could be the solution.”
Steiner is not alone in that view, with Ralf Schumacher having made a similarly pointed argument about Hamilton’s leadership credentials following the Brazilian Grand Prix.
“Hamilton never learned how to lead a team, not under Toto Wolff and not under Ron Dennis,” Schumacher said, adding that driving quickly was simply always Hamilton’s designated role.
Schumacher argued that this singular focus on performance, rather than team-building, had shaped Hamilton’s personality in ways that complicate a broader leadership function at a team like Ferrari.
Ralf Schumacher also addressed why Verstappen might be better suited to Maranello specifically, rather than a team like Mercedes, drawing a distinction rooted in culture and history.
“At Ferrari, I think they’re used to a driver being able to make demands, but in my opinion that still comes from Michael [Schumacher], from what he left behind there.”
The suggestion that Michael Schumacher’s legacy at Ferrari created a blueprint for a demanding, forceful driver-leader adds a significant layer to the debate surrounding Hamilton’s current standing.
Whether Ferrari’s management will act on the speculation or publicly back their current lineup remains to be seen, but the volume of prominent voices raising doubts is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.