Charles Leclerc has spotted that Lewis Hamilton is a “step ahead” of his former team-mates when it comes to hitting the brakes.

Claiming that the tag of Ferrari’s late braker has always belonged to him, Leclerc has been left impressed with how Hamilton is a “step ahead” of his previous team-mates in that regard, four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel and four-time grand prix race winner Carlos Sainz appearing on that list.

Lewis Hamilton: The new king of late brakers at Ferrari?

Leclerc has now experienced 10 rounds with Hamilton as his Ferrari team-mate, and it is Leclerc who has shone over the seven-time World Champion, recording all three of Ferrari’s podium finishes so far in F1 2025, and scoring 104 points to Hamilton’s 79.

Hamilton has though claimed Ferrari’s sole victory of the season having won the China Sprint.

And ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, Leclerc was asked to assess his experience alongside Hamilton so far, and braking is an area of Hamilton’s game which has left the Monegasque driver impressed.

“I expected many, many things from Lewis,” Leclerc began.

“Obviously joining the team and having so much success in F1, you kind of expect to see the speed, the special things, in terms of driving. So all these kind of things were expected.

“I still got surprised with the way he brakes, by example. I think how late he brakes is very impressive. In my career, I’ve always been the one braking later than my team-mates and that is a particular driving style I didn’t really see in any of my team-mates. I think Lewis is a step ahead, even more so in that direction. So that surprised me.”

However, that was not the biggest surprise Hamilton gave Leclerc.

“But then for the rest, I think the rest is what surprised me the most, and it’s things that I did not expect,” Leclerc continued. “His discipline is very, very impressive.

“From outside, I obviously remember I was seeing him managing so many different things, and I was like, ‘This has to be hard.’ But then when you look at how organised everything is, you can understand that he’s just 200 per cent focused on racing, and then everything is super well organised for these other projects to run very smoothly, without his implications daily.

“And that’s something that I take as an example for me, because we’ve all got passions. We’ve all got projects outside racing. But obviously for all of us, the most important is that we stay focused on racing. And I think on that Lewis is very, very impressive.”

Latest F1 2025 head-to-head standings

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

Hamilton has business interests in sectors such as fashion and film outside of Formula 1, and is also highly active within charitable causes pushing for diversity and opportunities for people from underrepresented backgrounds.

And between his business ventures and settling into life with Italy’s iconic Ferrari team, Hamilton feels he is in a good place.

“Honestly, it’s pretty amazing,” he said of his Ferrari experience so far. “I’m loving traveling to Italy. I haven’t yet found a spot there – I haven’t made a decision exactly what I’m going to do – but I am lacking in the lingo area. So that’s still something I’m thinking about.

“But I love going to Maranello. The more I see of Italy, the more I fall in love with the place – with the culture, with the buildings, the architecture. There’s a real romantic feeling when you’re in Italy.

“It’s been a whirlwind of a year. I’ve got great new brand partners that I’m working with. I’m working on new projects. I’ve just released my collection with Dior, which I’m really proud of – check it out online. It’s taken a long time to work on.

“I’ve got lots of business ventures that are going really well. Everything generally outside of the racetrack is going amazing, and I’m working as hard as I can to make sure that’s reflected also in my results. So yeah, I couldn’t be happier in that respect.”

However, the on-track results have not been living up to the hype so far for Hamilton, who sits P6 in the Drivers’ Championship.

“But I want to be at the front, obviously,” he continued. “Generally, we need to bring more performance to our car. We’ve had one upgrade in Bahrain. Hopefully soon we’ll have another.

“We’re also in that period where we have to start working on next year’s car. The car I’m racing right now is not a car that I’ve had input in developing and evolving over the past four years. So I’m driving a car that Charles has obviously been a part of developing, knows very, very well, and has its challenges. But I’m enjoying that challenge.”

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