Former Alpine F1 Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer had frank advice for Ferrari about Charles Leclerc, urging the Formula 1 team to “leave him alone”.
Charles Leclerc has recently been under scrutiny after his F1 form appeared less consistent than that of teammate Lewis Hamilton. While both drivers have only achieved one victory so far this season, Hamilton’s momentum has perhaps proved stronger.
The Monegasque driver sits fourth in the Drivers’ Standings, 31 points behind his teammate in second, with George Russell separating them.
Szafnauer appeared on the High Performance Racing podcast and urged the Scuderia team to avoid discussing the matter with Leclerc.
“No, leave him alone. I would not have a conversation, but be supportive,” said the former Team Principal.
“Lewis [Hamilton] at the beginning of the year, and I’m not speaking from facts, just the feeling I get, was a little bit more ahead of Leclerc than he is now,” Szafnauer explained.
“I think Charles [Leclerc] has stepped it up in the last two a little bit towards Lewis.”
Indeed, Leclerc appears to have improved his form over the past few races. Since his victory at Silverstone, the driver has raised his level of performance. If the Italian outfit can improve the remaining issues with the SF26, both drivers look to finish the season on a high note.
Smedley deems Leclerc ‘slightly lost’
Despite Hamilton looking solid and leading in points, the two drivers are nearly equal when it comes to stepping on the podium this season.
The seven-time World Champion has one victory and four additional podiums under his belt in the first half of the F1 season. On the other hand, Leclerc also possesses one victory but only three additional podiums.
The true difference is that Hamilton has yet to retire from a race in 2026; Leclerc has suffered two. In the rest of the races, the Monegasque has looked solid, with the exception of two P8 finishes in Miami and Austria. His other results are solely P4 and higher. Hamilton’s lowest results thus far were two P6 finishes in Japan and Miami.
Former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley also weighed in on the matter, and said: “I think this is the first time in a long time with Charles where his team-mate has had a significant upper hand.”
“Charles wasn’t happy with the car. I know that they changed components around the braking system, types of material and stuff like that, but it felt like he was just slightly lost for a driver of his experience and how good he is,”
Previously, Leclerc has outperformed his teammates, having consistently higher finishes than Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel during their time at Ferrari. Even his rookie year at Sauber ended with the Monegasque finishing higher in the Drivers’ Standings than his then-teammate Marcus Ericsson.
Now, the highly experienced Hamilton poses a challenge to him. The two will no doubt continue to go head-to-head in the second half of the season.
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