- Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher compared Lewis Hamilton to the gangster Al Capone on the Backstage Boxengasse podcast, per Crash.net, over Hamilton’s radio message after the Mexico City Grand Prix clash with Charles Leclerc.
- Schumacher said Hamilton is acting more like a team boss than a driver and called on Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur to take control.
- Vasseur says he will speak to each driver separately as Ferrari head to Brazil this weekend with four rounds of the 2026 season left.
One Radio Message, One Podcast and a Ferrari Garage Waiting on Its Team Principal
Ralf Schumacher saved his sharpest words for a radio call, not for the first lap collision itself. Speaking on the Backstage Boxengasse podcast, the former F1 driver said:
“My problem is with the drama that followed. Demanding a penalty for your teammate over the radio is unacceptable. Then to speak like Al Capone and threaten that ‘we have big, big problems’ in my view, that’s just the dog walking its master. He’s putting himself above the Ferrari brand. He’s acting more like a team boss than a driver.”
The message he means came from Hamilton, 41, a seven time world champion, under the red flag in Mexico. “We’ve got problems. Big, big problems,” Hamilton said over the team radio. Schumacher heard a threat in it.
What Hamilton Actually Said After the Race
The trigger came on Sunday 1 November at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Hamilton started from pole with Leclerc third, and Leclerc moved up to second when George Russell lost momentum into Turn 1. Leclerc attacked Hamilton again at Turn 4, cut Turn 5 and took the lead. Max Verstappen then passed Hamilton, and Leclerc picked up a five second penalty that handed Verstappen the win. Hamilton finished second ahead of Kimi Antonelli, who clinched the world title with third place. Leclerc took fourth, and Ferrari stayed on two wins for 2026. Hamilton and Verstappen both argued the penalty was too lenient.
Hamilton gave his own version straight after the race:
“When I was at Mercedes, I watched and witnessed the back and forth between Charles and Carlos [Sainz] several races, where they were battling so much that the person ahead just pulled away, and they had the pace to actually win.”
“But it is one thing when that’s happening in fourth and fifth, as opposed to first and second, and you lose the win. That’s significant.”
He then turned to Leclerc himself:
“The guy is 28 years old [sic], so I don’t think it’s an age thing. I think it’s a mentality thing.”
Leclerc, born on 16 October 1997, is 29. Hamilton kept going:
“It’s like, ‘Do or die. Either I win or none of us do’, and it shouldn’t be that. It should be us getting that 1-2.”
Leclerc gave his side in a post race interview: “there was a gap and when you are fighting for a win, I will always go for it”.
Hamilton then spoke about what comes next at Ferrari:
“I don’t know what needs to happen now, how we discuss things when we go back,”
“I’m not quite sure how I want to engage in that. Of course, the frustrations are today. I’m happy because this guy just won the championship, so I’m really torn because, on one side, I’m happy, and on the other side, I’m really pissed.”
“We lost valuable points, and we, as a team, worked so hard. We could have easily had a 1-2 today. Really, we had the pace to do so.”
“We’re going into Turn 4 first and second. If we just hold position, I think anything can happen in the race. But when your team-mate works against you and then you lose positions like that, it’s definitely tough.”
“So, we’ll just talk about it offline, and it’s not really worth saying too much more. We don’t have rules of engagement, and whether or not that will change anything from Charles’ side, I don’t know.”
“We’ve just got to figure it out, but something needs to change for sure.”
Ferrari is heading for another year without a world title. Hamilton spoke about Vasseur too:
“Fred’s doing his best,”
“I think Fred came and spoke to me before the race, and I think he was nervous.”
“He just wanted us… Of course, he wants these two drivers to do well. From my side, if I’m coming from behind and I’m taking all the risk and it ends up that we lose as a team, then I think I have some answering to do, because it impacts a lot of people.”
“But the other way around, I’m in the lead, and it was just unnecessary. I think we could have easily, as I said, had that 1-2 today, which would have been huge for the team and for everyone back at the factory who’s worked so hard to bring us these upgrades.”
“I don’t really know what will be done because up until now nothing really has been done. So, yeah, we’ll see.”
The site covered that first reaction with Hamilton’s demand for Ferrari talks.
Schumacher’s Case Against Both Drivers
Schumacher opened with the first lap, and he had no complaint about the racing:
“Lewis Hamilton accepted that if Charles Leclerc didn’t drive over the grass, there would be a crash. That’s intentional. But I have no problem with that, because it’s a racing situation where nobody wants to give up their position,”
His complaint was with what came after. He said what he would do with the pair:
“I’d put both drivers in a sack, give them a piece of my mind, and explain to them how things are supposed to work at Ferrari. This can’t go on. Both drivers ruined each other’s race in that situation. Ferrari should have won in Mexico,”
Then he turned the focus on Hamilton alone:
“Lewis needs to ask himself what he actually wants. Is it just about him, or is it about the success of the entire team? Sometimes you get the feeling that everything revolves around him.”
“The rivalry between Hamilton and Leclerc has gone a bit too far in recent races. It can’t be that Ferrari suffers because both drivers are so stubborn.”
Schumacher also said something urgently needs to change at Ferrari, and he called for Vasseur to take control.
Vasseur Asks for Respect
The team principal had already spoken. Vasseur said in his interview straight after the race:
“I think it’s just a matter of respect,”
“Respect for the brand, for the sponsor, for the team, for the 2,000 people working at home like hell.”
“I think we are coming back in terms of performance; we did a good step forward, and we brought upgrades that the people at home are working night and day. And honestly, it’s difficult to digest for me to give up a win like this. I will have time to discuss with them, but honestly, today I’m a bit down.”
“The comments of Lewis, we’ll discuss with Lewis, and the comments of Charles, we’ll discuss with Charles,”
“What I see is the result. The result is that we had a win on the table; we were 1-2 in Mexico. And when you are 1-2, you don’t imagine that you can lose the race, and we were able to do it.”
He has not said what those conversations will involve. That puts the next move with Vasseur, with the Brazil weekend arriving first.
Two Drivers Heading the Same Direction
Two shifts inside the garage set up the fight. The first is Leclerc’s struggle with the 2026 cars, which he has regularly criticized for not rewarding his style. Leclerc said:
“These cars are making us do things that we’ve never done before in our career,”
“Versatility of the driver is always a good thing because in a career you’ve got to drive different cars in order to kind of add tools to your driving and being able to manage every situation.”
“And this year, particularly more than any other year, we are driving in ways that are very strange.”
“Sometimes it’s not something that I particularly enjoy, but I think as a driver, it will be beneficial in the long term.”
Vasseur added his view of Leclerc’s season:
“It’s true perhaps that [in] his driving style he was used to doing an extra push in Q3, and this does not always pay off with these regulations,”
“He had a good recovery in understanding of the regulations, the car, how to be faster, how to set-up the car.”
“It was not easy, because I think the challenge is huge. To do the reset at the beginning of the season when you spent the last 20 years [driving a certain way], saying you have to go on the throttle a bit earlier and we say ‘no, it’s not like this anymore, now you have to go on [it in] one shot’…”
“I don’t want to say it’s not the same sport, but the approach is different. This is true for everybody and I think that sometimes we underestimate the challenge for them. But after this difficult period, he had a good recovery.”
The second shift is Hamilton’s. In 2025 his lack of familiarity with Ferrari left him struggling and publicly doubting his own ability. Vasseur said of that step:
“It was difficult for Lewis – and that’s a small word [for it] probably,”
“It was difficult because [it came] after 20 years with McLaren-Mercedes and then Mercedes. I personally underestimated the step.”
“It’s not that we are doing worse or better, it’s that we are just doing differently. It’s not just about the food or weather, every single [piece of] software is different, every single component is different, the people around him are different.”
“And if you are not on top of everything, you leave on the table a couple of hundredths of seconds.”
“It’s not an excuse, it’s not a good reason, you have to be in front of everybody, but at the end of the day, we are speaking about details and I think perhaps we underestimate the change of culture, the change of people around him, the change of everything.”
The two climbs have met at the front of the grid. Hamilton’s complaint about Zandvoort, where he was held up and criticized the lack of team orders, came first. Monza followed, when he was forced onto the gravel at Turn 2 and Leclerc took responsibility; the site told that story in Ferrari’s Monza meltdown.
The strain was already showing before Ferrari’s home race.
Brazil Next
The 20th round of the 2026 season is the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos on 6 to 8 November. Free practice 1 runs Friday from 3:30pm GMT, and the 71 lap race starts Sunday at 5pm GMT. Hamilton and Verstappen share the most wins in Brazil on the current grid, three each, and Mercedes can seal the constructors’ title there. Vasseur says Ferrari are coming back in terms of performance. Four rounds remain, and Vasseur has said he will speak with both drivers, and Interlagos arrives first.
