Charles Leclerc has offered a glimpse into the possible reasons for Lewis Hamilton's difficulties adapting to Ferrari's 2025 car, pointing to the unique setup demands that suit his own driving style.
Leclerc expressed satisfaction with outperforming the seven-time world champion, objectively Formula 1's most successful driver in history, but kept his focus on broader goals. "Obviously it's gratifying to be in front," he told RTBF in Miami. "But that's not what makes me smile because we're fighting, at best, for third places.
"That's where I'm putting all my efforts—trying to improve the car so that we can fight for the victory like he did in the sprint in China. But it's still early days for Lewis. He's extremely fast and I have a lot to learn from him."
When asked directly about Hamilton's struggles, Leclerc demurred, saying, "I don't have an explanation—I focus on myself. But Lewis is a driver and a person I've always looked up to, even before being in F1."
The performance gap between the 40-year-old Hamilton and Leclerc has only widened as the season progresses, with Leclerc refining his setup and driving style to extract more from the car, while Hamilton appears increasingly perplexed.
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur downplayed the disparity. "Here we are far from Kimi (Antonelli) and close to Max (Verstappen)," he said in Miami, "but it's not enough. What we have is a balance problem. And Lewis was close to Charles in Jeddah and he's close again now."
Leclerc, however, described his ongoing efforts to maximise the car's potential. "Little by little, I'm trying to adapt my driving style to this new car," he said, noting that it is "a little more extreme, a little more difficult" than its predecessor.
"But there seems to be performance, even if we don't have the potential to beat McLaren and even Red Bull on their best days."
Reflecting on a recent breakthrough in his 2025 setup preferences, Leclerc explained, "I won't go into too much detail, but it makes the car a little bit more delicate—very, very precise—and quite difficult to drive, especially when you're on the limit in qualifying.
"But it's something I like, and something I've always liked in my career. For my part, this year we've gone in some very extreme directions in terms of setup, to get a bit more out of the car, so I feel like I'm changing my driving style quite a bit to adapt to the new needs of this car."
