Lewis Hamilton slammed for 'theatrics' as Ferrari accused of favouring Charles Leclerc

Lewis Hamilton has been slammed for his "theatrics" after struggling to compete with his F1 rivals since switching to Ferrari. The 40-year-old has failed to finish on the podium during his time with the Scuderia and is currently sixth in the Drivers' Championship standings.

Hamilton enjoyed a sensational career at Mercedes and won six world titles with the Silver Arrows after landing his first championship during his days with McLaren. But the blockbuster star jumped ship to Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season in his quest to land a record-breaking eighth world title. He has been unable to match the output of his team-mate Charles Leclerc and has already fallen 175 points adrift of championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Hamilton was knocked out in the first part of qualifying for both the Sprint race and the main race in Hungary.

He went on to finish 12th in the main Grand Prix as the likes of Gabriel Bortoleto, Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson finished well ahead of him.

The veteran insisted he was "absolutely useless" after Saturday's qualifying session and then added: "So they probably need to change driver."

And former F1 star Ralf Schumacher has now offered his take on Hamilton's struggles during an interview with Bild Sport.

"I already said before the season that this could go wrong. Currently, I'm seeing a lot of theatrics from him," explained Schumacher.

"He's been slamming the team, criticising internally, and arguing with the car - that doesn't help anyone.

"The car suits Leclerc, not him. Maybe he's too old to adapt. Or he just can't cope. I think the decision for Leclerc was made long ago. But I don't think he'll quit during the season."

After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton appeared philosophical about his situation as he stated: "I'm looking forward to coming back. Hopefully, I'll be back, yeah.

"Definitely some improvements that have been made on the upgrades. Naturally, it's a shame we're not as competitive as the guys at the front, but you've seen Charles has had a really strong run of the last two races. The car is definitely progressing, so we have to keep trying to extract more from it."

And the driver was defended by Ferrari chief Fred Vasseur in Hungary, with the Italian explaining: "He's demanding, but I think it's also why he's seven-times world champion, that he's demanding with the team, with the car, with the engineers, with the mechanics, with myself also. But first of all he's very demanding with himself."