Lewis Hamilton has been told that team-mate Charles Leclerc is “driving better than he ever has”. But former Formula 1 racer Johnny Herbert does not believe the seven-time champion has been relegated to number two status at Ferrari – “yet”.
Hamilton is the only one of the two Ferrari drivers to have tasted victory this year thanks to his sprint race win in China. But the start of his career with the team has been underwhelming other than that so far, with only seven points scored from the first three Grands Prix.
Leclerc has also struggled and, like Hamilton, was disqualified after the main China race which has limited their points hauls. He has managed five more than his British team-mate, though, and has looked the more comfortable of the two in race trim so far.
And Hamilton’s results so far have surprised Herbert who said he “expected more” from the 40-year-old’s first few races in red. “I don’t think Lewis Hamilton has got the number two status yet, but what I like about Charles Leclerc is that when he came in with Sebastian Vettel, he took over that team,” he told SambaSlots.
“That is where he’s very strong, his ability to get the best out of everybody within the team and take all the energy away from his fellow driver.
“It’s not as if Lewis is not beatable. But it is a surprise that he hasn’t quite gone in there and dominated that little bit more than we’re seeing or even really fighting close together because there’s been quite a difference between the two in a race scenario especially.
Maybe he’s just at a ceiling at the moment, but he can’t jump to the next one, because the car can’t do that. Hopefully that upgrade [in Bahrain] will lift him to the next level. But it’s been a bit disappointing. I expected a little bit more just because of what he’s achieved in the past. However, you can’t overlook the fact that Charles is driving better than he ever has.”
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Ferrari are already 76 points adrift of championship leaders McLaren, who clearly have a quicker car and have been capitalising on their early-season dominance. Herbert wonders whether the Italians might already be focusing on the next era of the sport which begins next season with brand new cars and engines.
He added: “It hasn’t really clicked for Ferrari again. There were a lot of positive vibes coming out when they were doing the testing in Bahrain, but in Australia it didn’t really come together and it hasn’t really happened again. They got the sprint pole position and the win, which was great.
“Their performances have been frustrating. But, sadly, it’s what we’ve seen and expected over the last five or so years. The focus may be just purely on what’s going to happen next year. They may have really put all their eggs in one basket, and they’ve just got to deal with what they’ve got at the present time. Hopefully, all their energy has been put in that basket, which is going to be for 2026.
“It’s disappointing, but I think Lewis Hamilton and everybody was aware that this is just going to be a slotting into the team and then it all comes together hopefully for the next or the next couple of seasons. As much as you’d have liked it to be, it was never probably going to happen this year. You hoped it would but expecting it to happen was probably a bit far-fetched.”
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