Lewis Hamilton vs Charles Leclerc might be the hottest topic in F1 right now: can a top team really have two leaders and still win?
Right now, the Scuderia still appear to believe it is possible, as they uncomfortably avoid going all in with either of their superstar pilots in 2026.
Hamilton leads Leclerc by 28 points in the Drivers’ standings, but he still trails young Italian Kimi Antonelli by 59.
Antonelli’s Mercedes team made the call to prioritise him during the recent Dutch Grand Prix as he claimed P2 ahead of team-mate George Russell.
But behind them, events over at Ferrari were in stark contrast.
An acrimonious afternoon in Zandvoort ended with both Hamilton and Leclerc out of the podium positions, and the former in particular being openly critical of team strategy.
It goes down as another missed opportunity for the Scuderia – Hamilton’s failure to get a podium spot might have cost him ‘only’ three points on the face of it, but in terms of the title every one of those points are crucial.
Now, as we approach what is surely last-chance saloon for any hopes of a Drivers’ title coming to Maranello in 2026, Leclerc has been speaking to media ahead of the home Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Leclerc Believes He’s a Leader Too
His comments appeared to show that he and Hamilton are united, and aligned in the vision for what Ferrari should be:
“Of course. I’ve been part of this team for a long time, but I have Hamilton as a teammate, and he’s a seven-time world champion,” he told Italian outlet Formula Passion.
“I think we’re both leaders and very aligned on the direction we want to take as a team.
“It’s clear that both drivers are leading the team today with a clear vision of where we want to go. We have different driving styles, but what we demand from the car is similar, and that’s very important.”
Driving styles are not terribly important in the context of this much bigger topic, but the rest of Leclerc’s statement is.
He’s talking about the team in red having two leaders, but doesn’t that just highlight their biggest issue?
Shared leadership in any walk of life seldom works, and when only one driver can win a title, it absolutely doesn’t.
Ferrari have not crowned a Drivers’ champion since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, and they are running out of time to do it in 2026.
It is ironic that this narrative is in the headlines as Ferrari prepare to honour the great Michael Schumacher with an emotional tribute on their home track this weekend.
Put simply, the sport’s other seven-time world champion would not have allowed this situation to develop.
Schumi was numero uno at Maranello from the moment he walked in the door, to the moment he walked out.
The Schumacher era brought five world titles to the adoring tifosi, and Michael was the team’s sole focus for every day of that glorious era.
Red Bull have enjoyed similar success by employing a similar strategy with Max Verstappen.
The likes of Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello knew they were wearing red to help Schumacher to win titles for Ferrari, in the same way ‘Checo’ Perez knew it at Red Bull.
It was their sole priority.
But Ferrari have two stars fighting for the limelight, a global megastar on a $60million annual deal and a popular rival who has just inked a long-term extension for big money.
The situation is both awkward and uncomfortable.
Leclerc is almost unquestionably the future of Ferrari, but this is about the now. And two into one does not go.
So while Leclerc’s statement was the right answer for him and he was trying to say the right thing, all it really did was highlight the biggest problem in the sport’s most iconic team.
Difficult decisions are never comfortable ones. Ferrari, it’s over to you.
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