Hamilton does not deserve Ferrari status - Ralf

Ralf Schumacher has launched another attack on Lewis Hamilton, accusing the seven time world champion of demanding a status at Ferrari that his performances do not justify.

The criticism follows the tensions with Charles Leclerc after Mexico, and another difficult Brazilian GP in which Hamilton again defied a team strategy call.

"I think Lewis is taking a position in the team that he doesn’t deserve," Schumacher told Sky Deutschland.

"The problem is, he’s simply not fast enough compared to Charles Leclerc."

Schumacher said Hamilton’s increasingly outspoken attitude was creating unnecessary problems.

"If he were clearly better than his teammate, as was the case with my brother back then, this discussion wouldn’t even exist. He’s the one causing it," said the younger brother of Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher.

His advice to Hamilton was blunt.

"Always be in front! Drive a second, half a second faster than Charles. Win every race or be ahead of him.

"It’s that simple."

Hamilton, meanwhile, admitted another mistake after ignoring Ferrari’s instruction to pit during the changing conditions at Interlagos.

He said the call came very late, while he was catching Liam Lawson, and that he had not been warned about worsening rain.

"If I’d have known that I would have come in," Hamilton said.

"And ultimately, that’s on me. Sorry for the team, for that."

It follows a similar incident in Singapore, where Hamilton ignored a pit call under the Virtual Safety Car and lost a potential podium.

Veteran Italian Ferrari commentator Leo Turrini, meanwhile, questioned whether the team’s internal arguments are distracting from much bigger problems.

"In the present, we’re amusing ourselves with the Hamilton-Leclerc feud. But for what?" he wrote in his latest Quotidiano column.

"Do we realise that Verstappen, who until the beginning of the summer was driving a car that was falling apart, will finish second in the drivers’ championship?"

Turrini questioned whether Ferrari’s leadership has a convincing plan to reverse its fortunes.

"Does the person who owns one of the remaining national symbols, namely Ferrari, have a plan, a program, a project, even a shred of an idea for the future?"

"An answer would be appreciated."