What Lewis Hamilton’s circle are now saying about Charles Leclerc amid one-sided Ferrari battle

Lewis Hamilton trails Charles Leclerc 5-0 in the Ferrari race-day battle heading into this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. It’s one of the worst records on the F1 grid.

Only George Russell (6-0 vs Hamilton’s Mercedes replacement Kimi Antonelli) has been more dominant against his teammate. Leclerc has finished ahead in every Grand Prix, only losing out in the Sprints.

Hamilton won the Saturday race in Shanghai and finished third in Miami last time out after Leclerc aquaplaned into the barriers on the lap to the grid. There was a dispute over team orders in the race, with the Monegasque eventually leading the two cars home in seventh and eighth.

Leclerc is only 12 points ahead of Hamilton, but that reflects Ferrari’s limitations. They’ve only posted four double-figure returns in the first six Grands Prix.

In qualifying, the former Sauber driver is also dominant. Hamilton’s Q2 exit in Miami put Leclerc 5-1 up, or 6-2 including Sprints.

As of last month, Carlos Sainz was 10 times better than Hamilton in terms of the intra-team qualifying delta. His single-lap woes from his final year at Mercedes have continued.

Why beating Charles Leclerc isn’t Lewis Hamilton’s priority at Ferrari right now

Ferrari arrive at their first home race of the year fourth in the constructors’ and still yet to crack 100 points. McLaren, the team they expected to be battling for the title, are over 150 ahead.

For Hamilton, that seems to be the overriding concern right now. Every racing driver is naturally determined to beat their teammate, but the 40-year-old has little interest in doing that if the ‘spoils’ are a P5 or a P6.

That’s what ‘those who know him well’ have told Motorsport Italy. He won’t be ‘smiling’ until Ferrari are contenders again, regardless of how he fares in the intra-team battle.

“Let’s not expect a smiling Hamilton the day he confirms his lead over Leclerc. It could be a step, but certainly not the final objective if the spoils are a fifth or sixth position.”

At Mercedes, Hamilton pursued some ‘wacky’ set-up experiments to try and unlock the car’s potential. That contributed to Russell’s handsome 19-5 and 13-7 victories in the qualifying and race duels.

Ferrari may have upset one of their sponsors by hatching Lewis Hamilton plan

Ferrari are currently favouring Leclerc’s set-up concept, which is understandable given his superior results. But it’s at odds with Hamilton’s driving style.

There was some talk that Ferrari could ditch their Brembo brakes for an alternative supplier. Hamilton says adapting has been a challenge after using Carbon Industrie pads at Mercedes.

But it seems Brembo, an Italian company, were upset by those suggestions. And it probably wouldn’t have gone down well on the other side of the garage either.

The one thing in Fred Vasseur’s favour right now is that he has a harmonious garage. He can’t afford to disrupt it.