Ferrari ‘insiders’ do not think Lewis Hamilton wants what makes Charles Leclerc successful

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Charles Leclerc took his seventh podium of the 2025 F1 season so far with P2 in the Mexico City Grand Prix, but Ferrari are still waiting for Lewis Hamilton’s first in red.

The Scuderia relished a competitive time at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez last week, as Leclerc and Hamilton qualified P2 and P3 for the Mexico City GP. Leclerc even used one of his best starting positions in 2025 to finish P2, but Hamilton fell to a P8 finish on Sunday.

Hamilton’s controversial time penalty in the Mexico City GP, having left the track and gained an advantage, ultimately denied the Briton his first Grand Prix podium as a Ferrari driver. He got a 10-second penalty, despite Leclerc and Max Verstappen avoiding similar punishments.

Ferrari could not touch Hamilton’s car for the first 10s after the 40-year-old came in from P3 for his first of two pit stops on Lap 23 of 71. Hamilton was running 10.424s behind Leclerc in P2 at the time, but 1.189s in front of Haas ace Oliver Bearman as the Ferrari junior closed in.

Ferrari ‘insiders’ feel Lewis Hamilton will not adapt to difficult set-ups like Charles Leclerc

The 10s penalty helped to ensure Hamilton’s longest run without a Grand Prix podium finish to start an F1 season in his career has now reached 20 races. Hamilton had never previously failed to get on a rostrum beyond the 10th round of a season before joining Ferrari this year.

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And FunoAnalisiTecnica reports that Ferrari ‘insiders’ are privately admitting that Hamilton is struggling to match the results that Leclerc is producing in the SF-25 as he does not want to drive with a difficult set-up. Leclerc’s ability to adapt to any car is one of his major strengths.

Leclerc has also exceeded Ferrari’s expectations this season with his ability to secure results with set-ups that the Maranello crew initially felt would be inferior to the alternative options that their pre-race simulations proposed. He now has 210 points to Hamilton’s 146 this year.

Lewis Hamilton’s Mexico City Grand Prix qualifying result proved his pace when at one with his Ferrari

Ferrari largely rely heavily on their pre-event simulations to mould the set-ups that Hamilton and Leclerc will initially run, as race weekends do not offer sufficient time to test a variety of alternatives. But while Leclerc can drive around most problems, Hamilton does not want to.

Hamilton proved at the Mexico City GP that he can rival Leclerc’s pace when the Briton feels comfortable with his SF-25. Just 0.090s separated their fastest Q3 lap times last Saturday, as Leclerc pipped Hamilton for P2 on the grid. Hamilton’s P3 is his best qualifying for Ferrari.

But Hamilton did not have the race pace to rival Leclerc on Sunday, as the Monegasque was able to open an advantage prior to the first pit stop cycle. Also, Hamilton damaged his floor when he ran off at Turn 4 fighting Verstappen in the Lap 6 incident that sparked his penalty.