The real problem with Ferrari: “the drivers” according to Ralf Schumacher

Hindered by an unbalanced and unpredictable Ferrari, the Ferrari team struggled to reach the podium this season, with only one top-three result in five races.

However, the blame is not solely on the car, as Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are also accumulating errors. While Sainz is racking up penalties, two in three races, Leclerc’s number of accidents is increasing and now stands at four.

The drivers finished fifth and seventh at the Miami Grand Prix, neither Sainz nor Leclerc being able to improve their position on the grid.

“Once again, Ferrari did not meet expectations,” said the former F1 driver in his post-race column. “Ferrari has given me a very good impression since Fred Vasseur took charge. A lot has happened there.”

I think the biggest problem is the drivers. For me, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are not consistent enough.

Schumacher particularly brutal in his evaluation of Leclerc

Five races into the season, the Monégasque driver is in seventh place in the drivers’ championship with 34 points, 85 points behind Max Verstappen, and he shows absolutely no sign of being able to close the gap.

The number of Leclerc’s mistakes for the season is increasing with two accidents during the Miami Grand Prix weekend, following his DNF in the Australian GP and his accident during the qualifying session in Baku. The fact that both Miami accidents happened at turn 7 led the driver to declare it as “unacceptable,” but he explained that he was pushing hard due to an aggressive setup.

« I think I put myself in a difficult situation because I wanted a very aggressive setup for qualifying, knowing that it is a setup I need to extract the maximum from the car,” he said.

I wanted this car to be very delicate because I knew that’s how this car had to be driven, but it was too fragile.

Schumacher is not impressed and declares that: « With his mistakes, he shows that he doesn’t have the maturity or maybe in the end, he’s not good enough to win a world championship for Ferrari. For now, that’s not the case ».

As for Sainz, the Spaniard has not yet stepped on the podium, but he still holds a 10-point lead over his teammate in the standings.

Schumacher however believes that he let himself go in Miami with a penalty for exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane.

« Sainz entered the pit lane too quickly,” he stated. « To be honest, the Ferrari team is currently performing better than the two drivers.”