Could Lewis Hamilton Make Shocking Early Ferrari Exit? Six-time F1 Race Winner's Big Prediction

Lewis Hamilton has not made the best of starts to life at new team Ferrari. The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has struggled to match teammate Charles Leclerc both in qualifying and race pace.

After yet another weekend of struggling relative to Leclerc, who got Ferrari's first podium of the 2025 F1 season, Hamilton admitted that he was not doing his best with the car. 

And while he has signed a multi-year deal with the oldest team in F1, there are already suggestions making the rounds that Hamilton may look for an early exit if his own results do not improve. 

Schumacher's Big Claim on Hamilton

Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, brother of seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, believes it won't be much of a surprise if Hamilton decides that struggling in his final few years of F1 is not worth it. 

"I know I will get a lot of criticism again, but if it continues like this until the summer break, there is a danger that he will say, 'I don't want to do this anymore. I want to live my life now. I'm 40 and I'm rich. I'm not doing this to myself anymore, because I'm not performing at the [right] sporting level anymore'," he told Sky DE's Backstage Boxengasse podcast.

Schumacher also compared the kind of struggles that Hamilton is having with his car to other drivers, saying it seems worse with the Ferrari driver. 

"He just can't handle the car. We talk a lot about Lando (Norris), but I think it's almost worse with Lewis. He's starting to slump, and that worries me." 

Hamilton's Struggles Compared to Younger Drivers

It isn't just Norris who he compares poorly to - he has not been able to keep pace with Leclerc and even ex-Mercedes teammate George Russell. 

Russell has claimed two podiums this season, with Leclerc taking one - and both have almost the same machinery, given Ferrari and Mercedes have a similar gap pace-wise to McLaren. 

Hamilton has seen one high - the pole and sprint win in China. But beyond that, he has been outclassed by Leclerc.