Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Formula 1
Ryan Smart
Lewis Hamilton's deficit at Ferrari compared to Charles Leclerc has been revealed within a key section of data.
Hamilton left Mercedes to sign for Ferrari from the beginning of the 2025 season, but neither he nor Charles Leclerc have consistently been able to battle for podiums or wins.
Ferrari's sole victory this season was in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race, where Hamilton took pole and led for the entire 18-lap distance.
Advert
But the Scuderia made minor tweaks to Hamilton's car before qualifying and the race that caused him to be slower, with the Brit then disqualified anyway due to excessive plank wear.
Since then, Hamilton captured a second podium in the Miami sprint race but is yet to beat Leclerc over a full race distance.
Not all of those instances have been based around pure pace, though the Brit's qualifying performances have again been a concern after he struggled to match George Russell at Mercedes on a consistent basis during 2024.
In Miami, he also had a disagreement with Ferrari over team orders in the second stint, as his team decided to delay asking team-mate Leclerc to let him through despite Hamilton being on quicker tyres.
By the time the Brit was allowed through into seventh place, he had lost too much performance from his tyres to catch up to Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, and Ferrari swapped the drivers back - though again arguably a decision that was too late.
Ahead of the Grand Prix, Hamilton was asked why he was struggling to find consistent pace in the Ferrari, to which he replied: "Obviously the engineers that I'm working with now are used to setting up the car for a different driver and a different driver's style, and I'm used to driving a car with a different driving style, so it's just a combination of different things."
Advert
Now, new data has emerged which appears to show exactly where Hamilton is struggling in comparison to Leclerc.
On the F1 Nation podcast, Sky Sports commentator and World Endurance Championship driver Alex Brundle commented that the key difference is in the braking phase, with Hamilton's technique causing the Ferrari to become 'upset everywhere'.
He said: "I look at Hamilton's data every week, and the trait is the same.
Advert
"He goes into the high-speed corners, he hits a little bit more brake pressure than Leclerc. And you can draw a line directly up the wheel speed graph, to the steering trace. And the brake aligned perfectly with a tiny bit of movement.
"So that upsets the Ferrari, everywhere. Leclerc is just Mr. Measured on the brakes.
"I saw Lewis had a little bit of the same problem with the same thing at Mercedes. Can he coach himself out of a lifetime's worth of driving technique to move towards a car?