Lewis Hamilton arrived at Ferrari this 12 months in comparable circumstances to these his predecessor confronted 4 years earlier.
Carlos Sainz Jnr joined the workforce within the remaining 12 months of a rules cycle. Charles Leclerc knew the chassis properly and Sainz had restricted time to stand up to hurry pre-season.
The outcomes have been reasonably completely different, nevertheless. True, Sainz didn’t beat Leclerc on both of the core metrics, popping out 13-9 behind in qualifying and 14-6 on grand prix finishes. However he pipped his workforce mate in championship standings, ending the season simply five-and-a-half factors forward.
Hamilton was additional behind in each respect: 19-5 down in qualifying, 18-3 behind on race day and out-scored by 242 factors to 156. Maybe most puzzlingly of all, Hamilton’s performances appeared to dip because the season went on. The hole between him and Leclerc in qualifying widened and he did not progress past Q1 on the remaining three rounds.
Easy methods to clarify this? It’s definitely true that Sainz has extra expertise of adjusting to new groups than Hamilton. Certainly, after 12 years at Mercedes, transferring wherever else was at all times going to be a major adjustment for Hamilton.
Even so, over a 24-round season, shouldn’t that seven-times-championship-winning magic have shone via from time to time? Arguably it did together with his win from pole place within the dash race in China, however that was a one-off excessive for workforce and driver.
At mid-season, it appeared Hamilton was more and more in sync with the Ferrari and he seemed to be knocking on the door of a podium end. He adopted Leclerc to fourth place in Austria then let a transparent shot on the rostrum slip via his fingers at house per week later.
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By that time Leclerc had already notched up 5 podium finishes, however Hamilton had scored constantly sufficient to lie simply 16 factors behind him within the championship. The hole actually widened over the second half of the season. Previous to then Hamilton completed each grand prix within the prime 10 (Shanghai disqualification however); after then he solely made it into the highest 5 as soon as.
Granted, he may need taken a podium end in Mexico had Ferrari kicked up extra of a fuss in regards to the driver who overtook him off the monitor on the first nook. As that driver was his workforce mate, it was by no means prone to occur.
However what actually stands out from Hamilton’s second half of the season was not the one alternative missed however the string of events the place he by no means made it into Q3 – and even Q2. As Ferrari dropped additional off the tempo, having way back prioritised their growth work for 2026, Leclerc’s means to wring a aggressive lap day trip of their chassis helped him lengthen his factors lead over Hamilton.
What does this imply for Hamilton’s future at Ferrari? Maybe, with the advantage of a 12 months to settle into the workforce and as soon as the disliked ‘floor impact’ vehicles are gone, we’ll see a rejuvenated Hamilton. Or maybe his weak exhibiting in opposition to his workforce mate was a continuation of the obvious hunch in his remaining season at Mercedes, and we’re already previous the start of the top for Hamilton’s F1 profession. Both method, 2026 appears like being a pivotal 12 months for him.
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Unrepresentative comparisons omitted. Destructive worth: Hamilton was sooner; Constructive worth: Leclerc was sooner
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