Jolyon Palmer questions why Charles Leclerc didn’t help Lewis Hamilton at Belgian Grand Prix

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Charles Leclerc made further inroads on Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton’s points advantage at the Belgian Grand Prix.

After winning at Silverstone, Leclerc finished second at Spa, while Hamilton was fourth. The gap between the two is down to 33 points as the momentum shifts in the garage.

Both drivers capitalised on the timing of a virtual safety car to change tyres, but Leclerc had a clean race while Hamilton was hampered by a five-second penalty and a botched pit stop that saw him collide with a mechanic.

Jolyon Palmer criticises Ferrari’s lack of team orders for Lewis Hamilton

Leclerc and Hamilton started fourth and fifth but they each gained a place after the latter tangled with George Russell, leading to an unfortunate retirement for the Mercedes driver.

A quarter of the way through the race, Hamilton attacked Leclerc for P3, but the Monegasque saw him off with some aggressive defending at the Les Combes chicane.

Hamilton told Ferrari that he had ‘more pace’ than Leclerc, implying that they should let him through to attack Max Verstappen, who was a further second up the road. But the team did not oblige.

He had already been penalised at the time, while Leclerc was under investigation for contact with Oscar Piastri.

“I think if you’re Ferrari now, it’s wise to let Lewis go through,” F1TV’s Jolyon Palmer said on lap 13. “If Charles has got something more, he’s got to show it. They can always revert it. You’ve got Leclerc under investigation too.

“Leclerc’s close enough that he’s in the mirrors of Verstappen without piling on any pressure. Can Hamilton have a go and see if he can force a bit of defensive shape out of Max Verstappen?

“And of course, he’s the man higher in the championship for Ferrari as well.”

Leclerc eventually stretched his lead over Hamilton to 3.3 seconds before the VSC. The British driver tried to chase down Verstappen at the end of the race, but ultimately ran out of speed.

Hamilton did still leapfrog Russell for second in the championship, while Leclerc stayed in P4.

The two Ferrari drivers have found the limit in their wheel-to-wheel battles this season. Leclerc and Hamilton touched multiple times in Austria recently, but neither car sustained damage.

Palmer has already said that Ferrari should favour Hamilton to maximise their chances of catching Mercedes, but Leclerc is now too close to make that policy viable.