Ferrari should nominate one of its two drivers as number one now the 2008
Formula 1 World Championship season is entering its second half – that is the view of former grand prix winner
Ralf Schumacher.
Both defending world champion
Kimi Raikkonen and team-mate
Felipe Massa are currently tied on points with McLaren-Mercedes'
Lewis Hamilton atop the drivers' standings post-
Silverstone, and Schumacher – whose elder brother Michael was invariably
Ferrari's number one from 1996 to 2006 – believes the
Scuderia must now pin its hopes on one of the two if it is not to risk the pair's internecine battling give too many points away to the Briton.
“Gradually now Ferrari has to commit itself to a number one,” Mercedes' current DTM ace and former Jordan,
Williams and
Toyota F1 pilot told German newspaper
Bild.
Both Hamilton – whose own team-mate
Heikki Kovalainen has amassed just half of his points' total so far, after suffering appalling ill-fortune over the opening nine races of the 2008 season – and former three-time world champion Niki Lauda, however, disagree with Schumacher's assessment, arguing that the fact that Ferrari has two equally competitive drivers in title contention can only be of benefit to the team.
“I think it's an advantage,” Hamilton stated, “because it pushes the team towards the constructors' championship. It can't be bad for them.”
“For Ferrari there is no hurry [to select a number one],” concurred Austrian Lauda, two of whose crowns were clinched with the Maranello-based concern. “Only if one of them drops back clearly do I think they will go fully behind one driver.”
