Jolyon Palmer says Lewis Hamilton is ‘the only reason’ Ferrari are still ahead of Red Bull in F1 standings

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Despite not winning a race so far this season, Ferrari are still ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull in the constructors’ championship. Jolyon Palmer has explained why he pinpoints Lewis Hamilton as the ‘only reason’ for their strong position.

The Ferrari duo of Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been the most consistent driver pairing of the three teams that are in with a chance of securing the second-place spot in the F1 standings this season.

Leclerc has been a regular podium-sitter, due to the fact that he has made the most of the battles in front of him to steal a podium where he can.

On the other hand, Hamilton is yet to feature within the top-three finishers of a Grand Prix in Ferrari colours, but his consistent points finishes have meant that the Scuderia are currently enjoying a fragile one-point advantage over Mercedes behind them.

READ MORE: Charles Leclerc admits he’s still not ‘on the same level’ as Lewis Hamilton despite dominating Ferrari battle

Jolyon Palmer believes Lewis Hamilton is the only reason why Ferrari are ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull in the F1 standings

Speaking on F1’s Weekend Warm-Up for this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Palmer was asked for his opinion on the future of Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, to which he drew a comparison to the rest of the drivers who have assumed the mantle of being the ‘second driver’ in the current campaign.

The former F1 driver said, “As a driver, you’re always compared to your teammate. Now, we know the teammate comparison to Max Verstappen is brutal.

“But Yuki has scored eight per cent of Red Bull’s points. Not even double figures there. So really, he’s barely contributed. Max is doing so much heavy lifting. But it’s interesting if you look at the other teams as well, there is a big role for the lead driver.

“George has done a great job. Kimi Antonelli just beat him for the first time in a race on Sunday. But even if you look at Ferrari, the only reason they’re there is because Lewis has done the better job of the second drivers.”

The seven-time world champion is hoping to break his current podium drought at the iconic Italian constructor by securing a top-three finish at one of his favourite circuits on the F1 calendar.

Hamilton unveiled an Ayrton Senna-inspired helmet ahead of the race weekend at Interlagos. It marks the first time a Brazilian flag is featured on the helmet of a Ferrari driver in their illustrious history in the sport.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton faces a similar situation at Ferrari to what he did when he had ‘no hope’ at McLaren

Alex Jacques thinks the Ferrari duo would rather win races and be fourth than go winless and be second in the F1 standings

Alex Jacques was also asked for his thoughts on the fact that Ferrari are ahead of their on-grid rivals, despite being the only team out of the top four front-runners to not have a driver feature on the top step of the podium so far this year.

The British commentator said, “It’s incredible, isn’t it, when you consider that the drivers would happily be fourth in the constructors, but have a couple of wins each. They’d much rather have it that way round.

“Consistency for Ferrari, but they are way off if you consider they were only 14 points back last year compared to McLaren. It’s a P2, but it’s not a close P2.”

The gap in the constructors’ championship is a lot wider this season than the battle that went down to the wire at last year’s season-closer in Abu Dhabi.

McLaren secured the title at the Singapore Grand Prix in October, with six rounds of racing left to play for in the 2025 campaign.