Charles Leclerc has had a mind-opening experience since Lewis Hamilton arrived at Ferrari from Mercedes.
A graduate of the Ferrari Driver Academy, the Maranello squad’s machinery is all Leclerc has known since he debuted for Ferrari in 2019, but now alongside F1 icon Lewis Hamilton, Leclerc said the seven-time World Champion has offered “very interesting” feedback on how Mercedes and Ferrari compare.
Lewis Hamilton providing value to Charles Leclerc and Ferrari
Hamilton spent 12 seasons as a Mercedes driver, in which time he won six World Championships – taking his tally to seven overall – while Mercedes embarked on a record-breaking run of eight Constructors’ title wins between 2014-21.
Hamilton and Mercedes were reduced to a handful of wins when the ground effect regulations arrived in 2022, moving his journey and pursuit of that elusive eighth World title on to Ferrari, Hamilton signing up for F1 2025 and beyond before the 2024 campaign even got underway.
The halfway point in Hamilton’s first Ferrari season has arrived, and Leclerc, in conversation with The Times, spoke highly of his experience thus far working alongside Formula 1’s most successful driver.
“It’s been very interesting to see the areas where we [Ferrari] were working completely differently, compared to a team like Mercedes, which had huge success in the past,” said Leclerc.
“And to compare this way of working. I’m sure that this will help us to do steps forward in the future.
“There’s already been very interesting feedback from Lewis, because for me [the feeling in the car], it’s the normality. It opens your mind to different working techniques.”
The season so far has though been underwhelming for Ferrari, who are still awaiting a first victory.
Leclerc may have scored all four of Ferrari’s podiums, a feather in the cap as he sits above Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship, but having taken the Constructors’ title race down to the wire last year, F1 2025 is not the follow-up which Leclerc had in mind.
McLaren pipped Ferrari to the 2024 crown in Abu Dhabi, but halfway through F1 2025, McLaren has built what looks like an unassailable lead, their advantage over Ferrari 238 points.
“It hasn’t gone as well as what I expected or wanted this season, that’s for sure,” Leclerc admitted. “But we are working hard to try and turn the situation around.
“The thing is that you end up in a season [2024] where you are fighting for the Constructors’ Championship, and so you start another season hoping to at least start on a similar level.
“It’s not that we didn’t do steps forward. I think we did. People around probably did a bigger step. More McLaren than any others, and they’ve done such a massive step that it is very difficult to beat them now. Red Bull also did a significant step forward.”
Latest F1 2025 head-to-head standings from PlanetF1.com
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
Leclerc’s frustration over his and Ferrari’s predicament has boiled over at times this season, the Monegasque driver one of the most self-critical on the grid, which showed again at Silverstone as he berated himself for qualifying sixth in a sweary radio rant.
Team boss Fred Vasseur believes Leclerc can actually be too hard on himself at times.
“For probably 10 years, one of the qualities of Charles is that he’s able to blame himself,” Vasseur told media, including PlanetF1.com, at Silverstone. “One of the faults of Charles is sometimes he’s blaming himself a bit too much.
“As a team, I appreciate a lot the fact that the driver can say ‘okay, my mistake’. This is positive, because it’s not bringing the team in the wrong direction and they are human. It’s good to have the drivers able to say this.”
A runner-up result for Leclerc in Monaco remains his and Ferrari’s best Grand Prix result so far in F1 2025. Hamilton has claimed their only form of victory by winning the China Sprint.
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