Charles Leclerc opened up about his on-track battles with Lewis Hamilton, rejecting the ‘wrong’ overanalysis of the dynamic and saying instead that ‘fighting against the best’ is what makes Formula 1 exciting.
The 2026 season has offered heated on-track battles between Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Since the Chinese GP, the two have been drawn to each other on track like magnets and have fought hard against each other. While their battles have been controversial at times, with Hamilton in particular expressing dissatisfaction after the Italian GP, Leclerc seemed to have a different view on the matter.
At the time, the outside consensus was that there was tension between the teammates. However, Leclerc has rejected this notion.
Jumping to the ‘wrong’ conclusion after Ferrari battles
Speaking to media ahead of the Baku weekend, Leclerc was asked about his on-track battles with Hamilton and expressed his enjoyment of battling against his teammate.
“Yes, I am,” Leclerc began when asked whether he is happy with how he and Hamilton race wheel-to-wheel.
“Then, of course, there have been moments where I went too far, where Lewis went too far, but I think the key in that is to discuss.
“I mean, I’ve been with Ferrari since 2019 now and I know everything we do is overanalysed, over-discussed, and very often the conclusions that are taken after those kinds of fights are the wrong ones. We only need to speak with Lewis to kind of understand.”
The Moneguesque has been connected to the Scuderia team since before 2019, when he was also a Ferrari junior. From the outside, having Ferrari’s golden boy in a team with a seven-time World Champion has looked rough since the two began battling. While Hamilton has hinted at wanting team orders, Ferrari does not appear to have the desire to choose a number-one driver.
Still, after internal discussions with the team, both drivers claim to enjoy the on-track fights between them.
“We’ve been doing that all our life, so we both want to win and there’s competition. But we also want to win as a team and to make Ferrari come out on top eventually. So that is the priority.
“But I mean, I enjoy fighting with Lewis and that’s what is exciting in Formula 1, is to be fighting against the best, and Lewis is definitely up there. So, for me it’s a big challenge, but I’m enjoying it.”
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