Lewis Hamilton is trying to reach the benchmark of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc. They will compete as teammates for the fifth time at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend.
Leclerc leads the qualifying head-to-head 3-1 and thumped Hamilton by six-tenths on Saturday in Bahrain. The 40-year-old recovered from P9 to P5 in the race, but that still left him behind the sister car.
Indeed, Leclerc has finished ahead in every Grand Prix so far, including China (before both drivers were disqualified). Hamilton converted Sprint pole in Shanghai, but that remains his only triumph over driver number 16.
Leclerc has openly discussed changing his driving style this year to suit the SF-25, a car that requires refinement. Hamilton hasn’t been able to adapt, but said after last Sunday’s race that he’d made some progress.
Lewis Hamilton can’t yet replicate Charles Leclerc’s ‘really impressive’ driving style
Leclerc will take part in his 131st race for Ferrari this weekend, which puts him fourth on the team’s all-time list. Only Michael Schumacher (180), Kimi Raikkonen (151) and Felipe Massa (139) are ahead.
Clearly, that gives him an advantage over newcomer Hamilton. But speaking to Sky Sports on Thursday, the seven-time world champion praised Leclerc’s command of a recalcitrant Ferrari.
Hamilton has, as is routine, been studying his teammate’s onboard as he looks to close the gap. He also wants to emulate his engineering approach – settle on a set-up early and only make minor tweaks thereafter.
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Indeed, Hamilton won’t pursue the ‘wacky’ experiments that characterised his final years at Mercedes.
“Charles has obviously driven this car for a long time,” he said. “The driving style he has works perfectly with the car. He loves sliding the rears, loves a really oversteery car, which is really impressive to see.
“Also, from the moment we get there at the weekend, he doesn’t really change the car a huge amount. I’ve tried pretty much everything now with the car, so I’ve learnt what does and doesn’t work. Then in terms of the inputs I put into the car, I’m adjusting those, to hopefully start to extract more performance from it.”
Ferrari could prove Sebastian Vettel right at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Hamilton has experienced the same problem as Sebastian Vettel so far. The 2019 Ferrari, which won three races, was also tricky to drive, but Leclerc got more out of it.
Last year, Hamilton called Vettel to ask about Riccardo Adami, his race engineer. It’s unclear if he’s sought any further advice since.
For his part, Vettel is confident Hamilton will improve at Ferrari once he’s fully adjusted. He’s well-versed in the unique culture at Maranello.
Vettel also backed Ferrari to compete for victories once their upgrades take full effect. And a week on from their first major development of the season, they could begin to extract the full gains at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
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