Smedley: Ferrari favoring Hamilton ‘only strategy’ of winning title

Former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley believes the Italian outfit should make a bold – and likely controversial – call in its bid to end one of Formula 1’s longest championship droughts, insisting the Scuderia should throw its full support behind Lewis Hamilton.

After Ferrari’s encouraging showing at the British Grand Prix, Smedley believes the team can no longer afford to let Hamilton and Charles Leclerc take points from each other if it wants to topple Mercedes and launch a genuine title challenge.

Hamilton’s podium at Silverstone left the seven-time world champion just 32 points behind championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who failed to score. Leclerc, despite ending his own winless streak with victory, remains 39 points behind Hamilton and trails Antonelli by 71 points.

With Mercedes claiming seven wins from the opening nine races, Smedley says Ferrari must be prepared to abandon sentiment in favour of strategy.

‘The only chance’ Ferrari has

Speaking on the High Performance Racing podcast alongside Jake Humphrey and Otmar Szafnauer, Smedley agreed that Ferrari should even have considered switching its drivers during last weekend’s British Grand Prix.

"100% agree with that,” Smedley responded when asked whether Ferrari should have swapped Hamilton and Leclerc on track.

He acknowledged the idea runs counter to his own instincts but believes extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary measures.

“However, I am going to go against my own sense of logic and say I actually think that doing something as extreme as that is the only chance Ferrari has of winning this world championship,” he added.

"I think that if they play the game of trying to outpace Mercedes in car terms, and then they play the game of allowing the drivers to race each other with such a big gap [in the championship] between Lewis and Charles, the probability significantly diminishes for them to win the drivers' world championship.

"So, I think that although it goes against my logic, there are too many variables coming up. So why would you ever do it?

“But I think that is the one and only strategy that they've got of Lewis winning this world championship.”

A familiar Ferrari dilemma

Ferrari has so far resisted using team orders this season, allowing Hamilton and Leclerc to race freely as the team steadily closes the gap to Mercedes.

But with the championship picture tightening, Smedley believes the luxury of equal treatment may soon become a liability.

It would also mark a return to a strategy Ferrari has embraced before. During Michael Schumacher’s dominant years, the Scuderia was rarely shy about employing team orders when they served the greater objective of winning championships.

• Read also: Hamilton ‘impressed’ by Ferrari reliability – sees trouble for Mercedes

The stakes are enormous. Ferrari has not celebrated a Formula 1 world title since capturing the constructors’ crown in 2008, while Kimi Räikkönen remains its last drivers’ champion after his triumph in 2007.

Now, with Hamilton emerging as Ferrari’s highest-placed title contender, Smedley argues the team faces a defining choice: continue treating both drivers equally – or make the ruthless call he believes offers its best hope of ending nearly two decades of frustration.

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