Charles Leclerc says Lewis Hamilton made him realise he had ‘a lot to learn’ at Ferrari

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Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton reach the end of their first season as teammates at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The battle at Ferrari has been far more one-sided than expected.

Leclerc has scored all seven of Ferrari’s podiums this season, which has helped him outscore Hamilton by nearly 80 points. Unsurprisingly, that’s the largest margin of the latter’s career.

Hamilton has lost the qualifying battle 18-5 and only finished ahead of Leclerc in three races. On one of those occasions, he botched an attempt to let the Monegasque past before the chequered flag.

The 2026 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be Lewis Hamilton’s final F1 race – discuss.

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Leclerc’s intra-team dominance means no real rivalry has developed between the two drivers. But his respect for Hamilton is still abundantly clear.

Charles Leclerc says he’s more ‘attentive’ alongside Lewis Hamilton

In an interview with L’Equipe, Leclerc admitted that he was dictated by ‘gut feelings’ before Hamilton joined this year. After spending his first two years alongside Sebastian Vettel, he partnered Carlos Sainz for four seasons.

But Leclerc was struck by Hamilton’s ‘extremely diligent’ approach, particularly when it came to tyre management. He has learned to place more emphasis on data.

Leclerc is nothing but positive about the signing, which gave him ‘great help’ and motivation. He has never felt that he was in the ‘shadow’ of the sport’s most successful driver.

“I’ve learned a tremendous amount from Lewis, particularly in the way he works, how he analyses his data, and which ones are important to him,” Leclerc said. “I won’t go into detail, but before his arrival, I was more focused on gut feelings.

“From now on, particularly when it comes to getting the tyres up to temperature, I am much more attentive to the numbers and the data. Lewis is extremely diligent and extremely precise about this window that allows the rubber to function well, especially in qualifying

“With his arrival, I had a lot to learn. It was a huge motivation for me to see him join the team so that I could compare myself to him. Lewis was a great help, and I didn’t feel like I was in his shadow.”

Is the gap between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc down to simulator mileage?

Hamilton has received encouragement from Mercedes, his former team, during the toughest year of his career at Ferrari.

He needs Ferrari to improve under the new regulations and take heed of his development advice. Only if he’s comfortable in the new generation of cars can he think about challenging Leclerc consistently.

However, Ralf Schumacher has heard that Hamilton hardly uses the Ferrari simulator compared to Leclerc. These ‘old-school’ methods once served him well but may now be holding him back.