> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.the-race.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How the collision course between Hamilton and Leclerc was created - URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/how-the-collision-course-between-hamilton-and-leclerc-was-created/ - Published: 2026-11-05T09:35:36.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-05T09:35:36.000Z - Description: Edd Straw explains the two main reasons Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have become so tough for Ferrari to manage in F1 2026 - Author: Edd Straw - Tags: Formula 1, #ferrari, #charles-leclerc, #lewis-hamilton, #primary_homepage_feature At the end of last season, the question of who was Ferrari’s spearhead in Formula 1 had seemingly been answered by Lewis Hamilton’s difficult first year at Maranello. The latest fracas between Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in Mexico underlined that 2026 not only reopened the debate, but hasn’t yet led to one driver or the other decisively seizing the initiative. This is how F1 drivers become the de facto leader. Forget what contracts say or the perceived grace and favour of a team boss, if you are the stronger driver the team will coalesce around you. That’s exactly why Leclerc and Hamilton are determined to assert themselves at every opportunity. And it required a significant shift of the landscape on both sides of the garage to create this scenario. The first was Leclerc initially struggling with the 2026-spec cars. While there was a stretch early in the year when this was exaggerated by braking troubles, that was temporary. However, he’s regularly criticised cars that don’t reward his style given the need to engineer in a level of consistency to optimise the power unit deployment and harvesting. That’s led to him having to drive in a less intuitive way. "These cars are making us do things that we've never done before in our career," says Leclerc. "Versatility of the driver is always a good thing because in a career you've got to drive different cars in order to kind of add tools to your driving and being able to manage every situation. "And this year, particularly more than any other year, we are driving in ways that are very strange. "Sometimes it's not something that I particularly enjoy, but I think as a driver, it will be beneficial in the long term." Whereas Leclerc was one of the fastest to adapt to the demands of the last generation of cars, particularly in modifying his braking style in a way it took then-team-mate Carlos Sainz far longer to master, this time he has struggled. However, as team boss Fred Vasseur points out, Leclerc has made significant gains through this season. "It’s true perhaps that \[in\] his driving style he was used to doing an extra push in Q3, and this does not always pay off with these regulations," says Vasseur. "He had a good recovery in understanding of the regulations, the car, how to be faster, how to set-up the car. “It was not easy, because I think the challenge is huge. To do the reset at the beginning of the season when you spent the last 20 years \[driving a certain way\], saying you have to go on the throttle a bit earlier and we say ‘no, it’s not like this anymore, now you have to go on \[it in\] one shot’... "I don’t want to say it’s not the same sport, but the approach is different. This is true for everybody and I think that sometimes we underestimate the challenge for them. But after this difficult period, he had a good recovery." While Leclerc has been working through this process - and it’s important to note that while he is operating at a good level he is still not at his absolute best - Hamilton has also made strides. In 2025, his lack of familiarity with Ferrari meant he struggled and publicly doubted his own ability, but year two has been completely different. This is the second factor creating this situation. "It was difficult for Lewis - and that’s a small word \[for it\] probably," says Vasseur of the challenge Hamilton faced. "It was difficult because \[it came\] after 20 years with McLaren-Mercedes and then Mercedes. I personally underestimated the step. "It's not that we are doing worse or better, it’s that we are just doing differently. It's not just about the food or weather, every single \[piece of\] software is different, every single component is different, the people around him are different. "And if you are not on top of everything, you leave on the table a couple of hundredths of seconds. And with the field that we had in '25 - I think it was Abu Dhabi Q1 that you had one tenth between P5 and P15 \[*it was 0.231s between Leclerc in P5 and Hamilton in P16, ed*\] - it meant that we were not in the full control of every single detail of the package, and we lost a little bit the path of the season. "I have in mind Budapest when Charles in Q2 was one-tenth faster than Lewis but Lewis was P11 \[*the gap was actually 0.247s, ed*\], and at the end Charles finished with pole position. "It's not an excuse, it's not a good reason, you have to be in front of everybody, but at the end of the day, we are speaking about details and I think perhaps we underestimate the change of culture, the change of people around him, the change of everything." Hamilton is still on the up and it’s reasonable to expect further gains next season. Like Leclerc, he’s performing well but knows there’s more to come, which should make him a little stronger again in 2027\. These two trajectories have created a collision course, albeit one that everyone in the team will hope doesn’t make the transition from metaphor to reality. It’s about two drivers, both still chipping away at what it takes to be at their best in this team and in these cars while determined to make themselves the focal point of the team through outright performance. It might be distracting and even counter-productive at times for the team, but it’s thrilling to watch from the outside. And based on the current evidence, this is a fight that could rage on into 2027.