Lewis Hamilton told he’s ‘broken’ the ‘vicious circle’ that Charles Leclerc created at Ferrari

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Lewis Hamilton scoring his first Grand Prix win for Ferrari in Barcelona gives Francesco Cigarini the sense that he shows the Scuderia the error of relying on Charles Leclerc.

The pride of Italy celebrated at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last weekend as Hamilton ended his and the team’s F1 win droughts, which reached 40 and 34 races. The 41-year-old utilised a three-stop strategy and a late virtual safety car to beat George Russell by 19.561s.

Hamilton’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix win also marked his first win with Ferrari, as well as continuing his recent purple patch. After a slight dip on the back of Hamilton’s first Ferrari podium with P3 in China, he finished P2 in Canada and Monaco before the win in Barcelona.

Results have not been as strong on the other side of the Ferrari garage of late, though, with Leclerc coming fourth in Canada, before he crashed out in Monaco and retired in Barcelona. On top of his race results, Leclerc crashed during qualifying in Monaco and Barcelona in Q3.

Lewis Hamilton is now only missing a Grand Prix pole position for Ferrari 🏆 Predict when it will come?

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Lewis Hamilton has avoided Charles Leclerc’s trap by showing Ferrari how to set up a title-winning F1 car

Leclerc has copied Hamilton’s braking set-up at Ferrari to try and improve his results, having seen the latter succeed since swapping out Brembo’s brake discs for Carbon Industrie. And Cigarini believes the biggest impact Hamilton has made at Ferrari is guiding their car design.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton’s seven best Mercedes drives before joining Ferrari in 2025

Long-time Scuderia engineer Cigarini believes Hamilton has avoided the trap that Leclerc set for Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari by being able to deliver quick times with a lively rear-end. That caught Vettel out, but Hamilton is showing Ferrari what they need for a title-winning F1 car.

Cigarini told Fanpage: “Charles has a great gift that can sometimes become a limitation. He can push any car they give him to the max, because he has incredible control. And this, paradoxically, is his limitation.

“Perhaps also because he’s never driven a Formula 1 car that would allow him to win a World Championship, so he’s never fully understood how to set up a car and what sensations it needs to provide to fight for the title.

“Charles grew up driving with a very free rear-end and has great control. When Sebastian tried to match Charles’s set-up, he looked like a fool because he couldn’t feel the rear end anymore and would spin. In fact, he was teased for that.

“But Charles took the car and pushed it to the limit with his own style. Vettel, who has won the world championship, as well as Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, want a very solid rear end. They have to feel it, it has to give them great confidence.

“[Leclerc] adapts to the car, while the others were able to figure out what was needed to win. If a car doesn’t inspire confidence in world champions and they spin out, that should be a warning sign. But at that moment, Charles was going faster than the world champions, so the stopwatch was telling Ferrari that was the way to go. Lewis broke this vicious circle.”

Which Ferrari driver has the edge on pure SPEED?

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Leclerc humbled Vettel during their two seasons as teammates at Ferrari in 2019 and 2020, after which the four-time F1 champion German moved to Aston Martin. The Monegasque’s single-lap speed especially stood out, with a 12-9 victory in 2019 and a 14-3 record in 2020.

Hamilton initially faced a similar fate after joining Leclerc’s Ferrari in 2025, during what was the final year of the ground-effect era that the Briton hated. Leclerc beat the seven-time F1 champion 19-5 in qualifying, and he also had an 18-3 record over him for Grand Prix results.

The 2026 F1 regulations and Ferrari listening to Hamilton’s advice on how to set up a car to his liking have seen a huge shift so far this season, though. Through seven rounds, Hamilton now leads Leclerc 4-3 in qualifying and 5-2 for Grand Prix results after his win in Barcelona.