Ralf Schumacher Blames High Expectations From Fans for Lewis Hamilton’s Difficult Situation at Ferrari

It wasn’t the start to the season Ferrari had hoped for. They came into the Australian GP expecting to be the second-fastest team behind McLaren and compete for a race win but ended up with its cars finishing P8 and P10 with debutant Lewis Hamilton coming worse off.

Since it was just the first race of the season, the alarm bells won’t be ringing in Maranello just yet. But if the performance of the SF-25 continues to be as woeful as it was in Melbourne, Hamilton and Ferrari are in for a tough time. Ralf Schumacher went as far as saying that no one at Ferrari is safe at the moment from criticism.

As for the seven-time World Champion’s performance, Schumacher has a theory as to why it felt so underwhelming.  Fans — without waiting to see whether the SF-25 was actually championship-worthy — labeled Hamilton a contender. It inadvertently turned him into a favorite for the season opener.

This couldn’t have been the case had the real performance of the car been judged.

In a Sky Sports podcast, the ex-F1 driver said, “I think the expectation was far too high that Lewis Hamilton would come in now and then suddenly drive the car to World Championship victory… You have to wait and see what the car can do. You have to wait and see how well you can deal with it from the start.” 

Hamilton arrived at Maranello with arguably the strongest CV in F1 history. Statistically, he is the greatest driver of all time and his main motive for switching to red was to win his eighth title. In the process, the Tifosi also began dreaming of their 17-year title drought coming to an end.

Schumacher, however, asks for patience from fans. “It is a difficult situation because I think everyone expected a lot,” he added.

Ferrari hoping to bounce back in China

There wasn’t a lot of time for Ferrari to assess the difficulties it faced in Melbourne. The team is already in China preparing for the second round of the 2025 season this weekend. And although some are wary of another disappointing weekend, team principal Fred Vasseur sounds optimistic.

The Frenchman admitted to making mistakes the last time around. There were problems with pace, Hamilton’s race engineer lacked clear communication, and the strategy calls were chaotic.

 “It was not a shock but for sure it was not a good weekend for us,” Vasseur said. “But we focus on next week and learn a lot from this weekend because we made mistakes.” 

For Ferrari, this could already be an advantage heading into the Shanghai race. Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren, and Williams—all of whose cars finished ahead of Ferrari in Australia—faced a logistical setback, with their cargo arriving late due to a flight delay.

Journalist Kym Illman revealed that while the affected teams would still have time to set up, they might have to endure a few sleepless nights to get everything in order. Ferrari’s personnel, however, won’t have to deal with the same challenge.