F1 tech experts explain Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari deficit to Charles Leclerc

Lewis Hamilton’s struggles to adapt to his Ferrari F1 car have been analysed.

The seven-time world champion has endured a largely frustrating start to life at Ferrari after making a blockbuster switch from Mercedes which captured the attention of the entire F1 world over the winter.

Aside from claiming pole position and victory in the China sprint, it has been a challenging start to the 2025 season for Hamilton, who has not finished higher than fifth in a grand prix and has been convincingly outperformed by teammate Charles Leclerc.

New analysis from F1 technical experts Mark Hughes and Giorgio Piola has detailed the key differences between how Hamilton and Leclerc are driving the Ferrari, and why Leclerc currently has the upper hand.

According to a new report on F1.com, Hamilton’s biggest struggle in adapting to Ferrari’s 2025 car has come due to how it behaves in braking and corner entry.

Leclerc has adapted his driving style to extract maximum performance from the underperforming SF-25 which best utilises Ferrari’s unique power unit.

The Monegasque pointed to these changes being a key turning point as he secured Ferrari’s first podium of the season in Saudi Arabia.

“I'm not obviously going to go too much into details, but it's just made the car a little bit trickier, very, very pointy,” he explained in Jeddah.

“And that's quite tricky to drive, especially when you are on the limit in qualifying. But it's something that I like, that I've always liked in my career.

“It takes a few races in order to re-adapt everything around the car in order to go into that direction, which is the process that we are going through at the moment and in the last races has been paying off.”

Hughes and Piola note how Leclerc is able to maximise the engine braking to “provide additional braking upon the rear wheels through the axle”.

“This helps him [Leclerc] rotate the car into the corner as he overlaps the braking and the cornering phases – as obviously the engine braking is working only upon the rear axle,” the report continues.

“This gives a mild ‘handbrake’ effect into the turn which Leclerc uses to his advantage. But Hamilton, used to a Mercedes which doesn’t employ as much engine braking, has found the behaviour a little difficult to anticipate and this affects his confidence, making him unsure about how much speed he can carry into the turn.”

Where Lewis Hamilton loses out to Charles Leclerc 

Hamilton and Leclerc’s qualifying laps in Saudi Arabia where highlighted as an example of how much time the 40-year-old Briton is losing to his new teammate.

“To give an example, we can compare how they drove through the Jeddah Turn 13 hairpin on their respective Qualifying laps,” they continue.

“Hamilton brakes slightly later, and although their brake traces are initially very similar, Hamilton is on the brakes 12 metres longer than Leclerc (losing him 0.016s). Leclerc is also changing down earlier once braking begins (he’s down to fifth eight metres earlier than Hamilton).

“Their mid-corner minimum speeds show just how much speed Hamilton has lost, with Leclerc at 168kph, Hamilton 155kph.

“Leclerc has got rotation of the car much earlier into the corner, enabling him to carry that extra mid-corner speed. Hamilton even adds a further downshift (to fourth) as he struggles to get the car to point towards the apex.

“Leclerc is then able to be hard on the throttle 20 metres earlier, (worth 0.053s), probably as a result of getting the rotation Hamilton hasn’t been able to generate – and possibly from better traction from the higher gear. In all, Hamilton loses 0.168s to Leclerc just through that section. The importance of familiarity and confidence is very clear.”

Hamilton is still adapting to Ferrari’s specific engine braking traits, something the team have tailored to their car more than the Mercedes he previously drove.

Ferrari are believed to “working hard” at developments around the rear suspension to improve the SF-25, though these are not expected to be introduced until later in the season.