{"id":586175,"date":"2026-04-05T02:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T02:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/586175\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T02:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T02:17:09","slug":"f1-insider-lewis-hamilton-contract-clause-blocks-ferrari-team-orders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/586175\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 insider – ‘Lewis Hamilton contract clause blocks Ferrari team orders’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former F1 star Ralf Schumacher has suggested that Lewis Hamilton<\/a>‘s Ferrari<\/a> contract prevents team orders being forced upon him. <\/p>\n

\nSchumacher believes that Hamilton has true number one driver status in the team because of the fact that he’s a seven-time world champion, despite Charles Leclerc<\/a> beating him by 86 points in 2025. <\/p>\n

\nHamilton failed to secure a single grand prix podium last year in his first season for Ferrari, while Leclerc claimed seven in the same machinery. <\/p>\n

Article continues under video<\/p>\n

\nThe 41-year-old has, however, started the 2026 season in better shape, jostling for position with Leclerc in both Australia and China, and beating the Monegasque driver to a podium in China.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\nDespite being outclassed at the Japanese GP last weekend by Leclerc, Hamilton has adopted a much more positive persona this year, and is hoping to challenge his team-mate more closely throughout the season. <\/p>\n

\nBut Schumacher – brother of another seven-time world champion in Michael Schumacher – has said that Ferrari don’t stand a chance of challenging Mercedes<\/a> for the title in 2026, because of the unique contract situation that he believes is present within the team. <\/p>\n

\nSpeaking on the Backstage Boxengasse<\/a>, Schumacher said: “I\u2019m actually of the opinion – although I\u2019ll obviously get a storm of criticism for this again, but I don\u2019t care – that although Lewis Hamilton is clearly back in the mix this year, which I\u2019m very happy about, he\u2019ll also have contracts that allow him to do exactly that. <\/p>\n

\n“I could imagine that even if Fred [Vasseur] wanted to, he wouldn\u2019t be able to say anything, because I believe Lewis Hamilton can decide for himself what he needs to do. He\u2019ll enjoy a certain number one status, I can almost imagine. <\/p>\n

\n“That\u2019s why Ferrari doesn\u2019t stand a chance. He\u2019ll decide that on his own. But of course that causes a stir in the team. It stirs things up a bit. So yes, it happened once or twice, but that\u2019s just how it is. <\/p>\n

\n“I mean, I\u2019m saying now that, relatively speaking, you should handle it a bit differently. I think it\u2019s down to the contract situation, and I also think – and this is actually the main problem – you mustn\u2019t underestimate that sort of thing.” <\/p>\n

\nREAD MORE: Hamilton\u2019s \u2018frustrations\u2019 with \u2018bullying\u2019 Verstappen revealed<\/a> <\/p>\n

Can Ferrari win the championship?<\/p>\n

\nMercedes have started off as the dominant team in the sport in 2026, winning all three grands prix so far, with it looking likely that their two drivers George Russell<\/a> and Kimi Antonelli are going to be challenging for the championship. <\/p>\n

\nBut Ferrari are just 45 points behind the Brackley outfit in the constructors’ championship<\/a>, and if they can figure out a way of making a few gains in this current five-week break in the season, then that gap could begin to close. <\/p>\n

\nIt’s probably more achievable for Ferrari, however, to try and claim some grand prix wins this year, having had a winless season in 2025, before then getting themselves in a place to launch a serious challenge for the championship in 2027. <\/p>\n

\nHamilton in particular will be desperately hoping that he can claim a first grand prix victory since the 2024 Belgian GP at some point this season. <\/p>\n

\nF1 HEADLINES: F1 teams head to Nurburgring as FIA approve new race<\/a><\/p>\n

Related\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former F1 star Ralf Schumacher has suggested that Lewis Hamilton‘s Ferrari contract prevents team orders being forced upon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,823,44,1383,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-586175","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-lewis-hamilton","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-sam-cook","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}