26/08/2025 09:15
Charles Leclerc believes "it is too early" to judge Lewis Hamilton
on his Ferrari performances despite his poor start to life at the
Scuderia. After his bombshell move from Mercedes for 2025,
expectations were high that Hamilton could even launch a world
championship bid, but at the summer break, he has yet to record a
grand prix podium finish, with the nadir coming in Hungary. After
qualifying 12th, Hamilton claimed he was "useless" and that Ferrari
needed to sign "another driver" after Leclerc took pole position
ahead of the fancied McLaren drivers. He would finish a lapped 12th
in the race, but did confirm he would not walk away and would be at
the Dutch Grand Prix. Leclerc leads Hamilton 10-4 across grand
prix qualifying sessions in 2025, with an average position of 5.1
to 8.4 and leads the 104-time pole sitter by an average of 0.241s,
using their outright fastest qualifying laps. In races, Leclerc
leads 11-2 in races, both have been classified finishers for an
average position of 5.0 to Hamilton's 6.5. However, despite his
domination over his team-mate, Leclerc is not rushing to any
judgment about Hamilton's adjustment to Ferrari, especially after
12 seasons with Mercedes. "I didn't have much expectation because I
didn't know," Leclerc told media, including RacingNews365 , when
asked if he expected to be ahead of Hamilton. "As a driver, you
watch the data of other drivers, but there's always the question
mark: when you're off in one corner, how much is it coming from the
driver and how much from the car? "I was very curious to see where
I would be against Lewis. Again, it's still very early on, and
we're also not fighting for wins and pole positions, which changes
things for a driver. "For now, my only focus is to try and bring
Ferrari back to the top. I'm happy with the way I'm performing, and
I just need to keep going that way. "It's probably too early to
judge, as it's a new team for Lewis, and I'm sure he's still
understanding and learning about all the different systems, the new
systems for him."
