Lewis Hamilton is getting used to being a Ferrari driver with private tests at Fiorano and in Barcelona but Charles Leclerc may have just hinted at why he could struggle.
The 40-year-old has started a new chapter in his Formula 1 career this season with Hamilton joining Leclerc at Ferrari. It is just the second time since the Briton’s debut in the pinnacle of motorsport that Hamilton has changed teams having only raced for McLaren and Mercedes.
Now, a new foe stands in Hamilton’s way in Leclerc, who is firmly part of the Ferrari family as the 27-year-old prepares for a seventh season at the Scuderia. He replaced Kimi Raikkonen at Maranello in 2018, yet Ferrari have still not won the drivers’ title since the Finn’s in 2007.
Charles Leclerc’s qualifying ‘struggle’ could cost Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari
Honours will be even in the Scuderia garage through the opening rounds of the 2025 season as Hamilton and Leclerc must earn No1 driver status at Ferrari. It could prove key to be their lead pilot after Ferrari fell just 14 points shy of sealing the 2024 constructors’ championship.
Leclerc may have a key advantage over the Briton, too, as Mercedes felt Hamilton struggled in qualifying in 2024 due to pushing too hard in some critical stages. He made crucial errors resulting in locking his brakes with Hamilton qualifying in P18 in China and P10 in Las Vegas.
Hamilton’s qualifying woes could continue with Ferrari in 2025, too, as Leclerc has conceded that pushing too hard sees the Monegasque ‘struggle a lot’. Yet he especially struggles when grip is at a premium during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix and Mexico City Grand Prix.
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“It’s not one of my strengths, qualifying on very low-grip tracks,” Leclerc told RACER. “I tend to push quite a lot in qualifying, and in Monza and Mexico I always struggle quite a lot.
“I’ve got to think a lot more in order to finish a lap and trying to contain a bit more my will to push extremely hard in qualifying because it just doesn’t work out on those tracks.
“You slide a lot because there is very low grip. You’ve just got to be a little bit less on the limit on those tracks, and I struggle a bit more to do that.”
Charles Leclerc could be just the third teammate to beat Lewis Hamilton in qualifying
Given Mercedes’ belief that Hamilton struggled in qualifying owing to pushing too hard last year, Leclerc admitting that he struggled to extract the maximum from Ferrari’s car because of the same root cause will not be music to the Briton’s ears after switching to the Scuderia.
Last year saw Hamilton lose his qualifying head-to-head to a teammate for only the second time after George Russell secured an 18-6 record. Leclerc also won his duel with a 14-9 win over Carlos Sainz, and will look to beat Hamilton if he keeps pushing the limits in qualifying.
