Ferrari have been warned that any attempt to help Lewis Hamilton find his form could have a negative impact on team-mate Charles Leclerc. Hamilton has endured a difficult debut year with the Scuderia, finishing in the top five just once so far this season.
He did win the sprint race in China, but was then disqualified from that weekend’s Grand Prix. Leclerc by contrast has finished fourth twice and delivered a brilliant drive to come home third in the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix on Sunday.
Ferrari will be desperate to see Hamilton’s form turn a corner having handed the seven-time world champion a bumper contract. Leclerc though is seen as a future world champion and given he is only 27, is set to be the face of Ferrari for many years to come.
That has led to former Williams star Juan Pablo Montoya to warn Scuderia bosses against doing too much to change the car. Montoya highlighted the difficulties of Sergio Perez at Red Bull, who favoured Max Verstappen over the Mexican.
Verstappen was largely happy with his car during Perez’s time with the team, but the Mexican struggled badly to adapt. And Montoya believes a similar problem could befall Ferrari if they do too much to hand Hamilton the car he wants.
“Lewis Hamilton is beating himself up because he’s not performing, but he’s not comfortable. I think everybody’s working hard to make him comfortable. But the consequence of that is if they really focus on making Lewis comfortable, they’re going to have issues with Charles in the long term,” Montoya told Plejmo.
“Look at Max. Every time Max is really, really quick, the teammate is miles away. When the teammate is close, they’re not that quick. They’re not as competitive. Look at Checo.
“Two years ago, when Checo started the season so well, people thought the two drivers would be fighting it out for the championship. But when they finally made the car good enough for what Max wanted, Checo couldn’t drive it.
“I think Ferrari might go through the same thing. As they develop the car for Lewis, to make him comfortable, all those things are going to compromise the performance of Charles. So that’s going to be interesting to see how far Ferrari is going to go out of the way to make Lewis comfortable.”
While he has warned Ferrari about going too far into Hamilton’s style, Montoya does believe the team need to do something to help the Englishman. He highlighted Hamilton’s pedigree as a reason for pushing for the Scuderia to adapt.
“I really thought Ferrari would have something coming into this season. We were all excited to see how much effort Ferrari put by having Lewis in the car. We were all expecting to see a magical Ferrari this year and it hasn’t happened,” he added.
“You look at Lewis in Australia. He was so uncomfortable. He was miserable in that car. Lewis doesn’t want to whine about it and then people think he is just not fast enough. Lewis is still very fast, but the problem is he is not happy in the car.
“That’s where Ferrari needs to go, help him with whatever he needs and focus. At the end of the day Lewis has been with teams that win championships. He knows what the card needs to win championships. So, Ferrari does need to listen to Lewis and make the car better for what Lewis wants.”
In 2025, Ferrari have a blockbuster new driver pairing with Charles Leclerc being joined by seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Show your support for the Scuderia with sale items and more now available through the team’s premium partner, Puma.
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