BREAKING: Lewis Hamilton grilled on Charles Leclerc car differences after ‘deficit’… read more

Lewis Hamilton Tight-Lipped on Ferrari ‘Deficit’ Compared to Leclerc

By Hugo Harvey

Lewis Hamilton has declined to elaborate on his recent claim that his Ferrari is running at a “deficit” compared to teammate Charles Leclerc, following a sluggish start to his 2025 Formula 1 campaign.

After completing a high-profile switch from Mercedes to Ferrari over the winter, Hamilton’s opening three races in red have seen him finish no higher than seventh. Despite a brief glimpse of promise with a sprint race win at the Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton was disqualified from the main event due to excessive skid-block wear, a setback that also affected Leclerc, whose car was found underweight.

The early part of the season has exposed some clear teething issues with Ferrari’s SF-25, especially in terms of ride height. Speaking after the Japanese Grand Prix, Hamilton revealed that the car is currently “running higher than we would like,” an issue that could be affecting its overall performance and handling.

For the first time this season at Suzuka, the Ferrari duo adopted different car setups, which raised more questions about internal discrepancies. Leclerc stuck with the baseline configuration used in China and Australia, while Hamilton opted for a different path in a bid to improve his performance. However, the results did little to improve his fortunes, prompting more questions about whether there’s a deeper technical issue afflicting his side of the garage.

Following the race, Hamilton hinted at an imbalance within the team’s machinery, stating: “Through the first three races, there’s been a bit of a deficit between both sides of the garage, on an element of the car, so on my side, something underperforming.”

The comments have sparked curiosity in the paddock, with reporters pressing Hamilton during media duties in Sakhir ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix. But when asked to expand on the claim, the seven-time World Champion kept it brief: “I can’t expand on it, no.”

Hamilton instead shifted focus to Ferrari’s latest upgrade—a new floor being introduced this weekend. “We’ve got a new floor this weekend, so I’m excited,” he said. “The team has worked really hard to bring upgrades. To have that here at the track where we tested earlier in the year, with more knowledge about the car and how to extract more from it, I feel really positive for the rest of the weekend.”

Acknowledging Leclerc’s consistency, Hamilton added: “He had the setup very similar to some of the other races. Slightly different, nothing major. But I’m learning all the time from watching Charles work with the team and how he works to set the car up.”

Ferrari, who narrowly lost the Constructors’ Championship to McLaren by just 14 points in 2024, have had a rocky start to the new season. After three rounds, the Italian outfit sits fourth in the standings, trailing McLaren by a hefty 76 points.

Hamilton remains optimistic, however, that the upgraded floor will help Ferrari move in the right direction. “It’s not necessarily closing the gap, but it’s going towards closing the gap,” he said. “If we can extract more from the car, which is what we’re trying to work on, hopefully we can see better results.”