Bernie Collins spotted Lewis Hamilton ‘deficit’ to Charles Leclerc that proves he has no confidence in Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc both appear to be dissatisfied with the job Ferrari are doing this season.

It’s rare that after four race weekends Ferrari don’t have a podium finish under their belt, but that’s the situation facing team principal Fred Vasseur right now.

Lewis Hamilton winning the Sprint Race in China appears to be an anomaly rather than the norm for Ferrari, but also highlights that under the right conditions, the seven-time world champion is capable of producing incredible moments.

However, for the vast majority of the campaign, Hamilton has been trailing behind new teammate Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc was upset that despite maximising his performance during qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, he’ll still only be lining up fourth.

Hamilton is struggling much more than the Monegasque driver though, and will start the race in P7, benefitting from Lando Norris’ qualifying crash and beating Red Bull’s new driver Yuki Tsunoda by three-thousandths of a second.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family

Bernie Collins has spotted why Lewis Hamilton is struggling more than Charles Leclerc in Saudi Arabia

Reflecting on qualifying on Sky Sports F1, former race strategist Bernie Collins was analysing how both of Ferrari’s drivers fared.

It was put to Collins that both Leclerc and Hamilton were frustrated with their cars after qualifying on Saturday, although the ‘deficit’ between the pair was obvious to see on Saturday.

Collins explained: “Yeah, and look, I’ve not looked through all of the data from qualifying yet, but when we’re looking at FP3 and I think Karun [Chandhok] did a piece at the Skypad that was really good.

“It was just little bits the whole way through the lap, just every line wasn’t as tight to the wall, wasn’t as close on the apex.

“He’s not using as much of the track as Charles was, so that’s the deficit between the two.

“I thought Charles would be a bit more positive than he was, but he wasn’t.”

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Martin Brundle discusses how to spot if Lewis Hamilton is suffering an F1 downturn

Hamilton is now 40 years old, and only Fernando Alonso has more experience out of the drivers on the Formula 1 grid.

He made his debut in 2007, and unlike Alonso who took a sabbatical to go and race in other series, Hamilton’s F1 career has relentlessly rolled on since securing a podium during his first race for McLaren.

Hamilton lamented his struggles in qualifying during his last season with Mercedes, losing out to George Russell in their intra-team head-to-head.

Vasseur wasn’t worried about Hamilton’s qualifying issues in 2024, but he might be starting to question whether his one-lap is ever going to return.

While he’s only starting three positions behind Leclerc, the deficit between the two drivers is striking.

Hamilton not getting as close to the walls on a track like Jeddah in a field where the cars have converged to such an extent is ultimately going to cost him.

Martin Brundle was discussing the signs of a racing driver losing their edge, and doesn’t believe Hamilton has reached that stage yet.

However, if he’s unable to match Leclerc by the end of the season, then it raises questions about how many years he has left in him at the peak of Formula 1.