Gary Anderson confused by Lewis Hamilton’s ‘unusual’ comment about Charles Leclerc at British Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton will be looking to capitalise on the home crowd and his brilliant record at the British Grand Prix to improve his form at Ferrari.

Hamilton is gunning for his 10th win at Silverstone this weekend. No driver has won more races at one circuit than the 40-year-old at the iconic track in Northamptonshire.

But the seven-time champion comes into this year’s British Grand Prix off the back of a disappointing start to life at Ferrari. Hamilton broke his personal record of most races without a podium at the Austrian GP, having not scored one since the 2024 Qatar GP.

The Brit has been steadily improving, however, having matched his best result for Ferrari with P4 at the Red Bull Ring. But the Maranello outfit still have a way to go to catch McLaren at the front, with Hamilton stating he lacked pace in Austria.

Hamilton has struggled to get to grips with the SF-25 as he has been constantly calling for upgrades throughout the season. He will hope his home race will bring some improvements for Ferrari.

Gary Anderson confused by Lewis Hamilton’s ‘unusual’ comments that Charles Leclerc favours an understeering car

Teammate Charles Leclerc has had the upper hand over Hamilton in 2025, having scored all of Ferrari’s podiums thus far. Hamilton noted Leclerc ‘drives with enormous oversteer’, with the pair having very different driving styles in the SF-25.

At the British GP, the 40-year-old spoke about how Leclerc favours an understeering car. Former F1 engineer Gary Anderson found these comments ‘unusual’, as Leclerc does typically favour oversteer.

Talking about FP1 at Silverstone, Anderson told The Race: “Lewis Hamilton also caught the eye for different reasons. He seemed to be struggling with a little understeer into the corner and never really found a way to get around that.

“Yesterday, he talked about Charles Leclerc favouring an understeering car, which is an unusual thing to say as usually he doesn’t.

“But maybe this reflects that there is some rear instability that Hamilton isn’t so comfortable with because understeer can also come from a driver being more conservative on entry to keep the rear in check if it does not give him that confidence on turn in.

“Hamilton has a clear favoured way to drive and always works to make the car work with it, but is trying to change that given he’s experimented and drawn blanks on all other directions, but he’s still not there with it. That said, he was quick in FP1.

“But the very best drivers, Michael Schumacher and the rest, always did what they could with the car they had on Sunday afternoon. Lewis does the same, but sometimes the car just doesn’t respond to what it is that makes him so quick.”

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Has Lewis Hamilton finally made a breakthrough at Ferrari?

Early signs have been encouraging from Hamilton at Silverstone, having topped FP1 over Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Teammate Leclerc was fourth as the SF-25 looked to have the pace to match the MCL39.

That performance continued in FP2 as Hamilton went P3 behind Leclerc, while Norris set the pace by two tenths. Ferrari look strong at Silverstone and could mount a challenge to the McLarens at the front.

Hamilton’s body language suggested a breakthrough at Ferrari after the Austrian GP as he felt ‘slightly more connected’ to the car. That looked to be the case at Silverstone as he topped a practice session for the first time in his Ferrari career.

But there may still be issues to iron out if they want to convert this pace into a strong result in qualifying and the race. George Russell was worried by Hamilton’s tyre wear during practice, which could be a problem for the 40-year-old later in the weekend.