{"id":342899,"date":"2025-12-12T10:11:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/342899\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T10:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:11:08","slug":"lewis-hamiltons-podium-less-season-defended-by-teammate-charles-leclerc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/342899\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton’s podium-less season defended by teammate Charles Leclerc"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Lewis Hamilton finished his first campaign ever in Formula 1 in 19 years without a single grand prix podium, Charles Leclerc says he knows firsthand how \u201ctricky\u201d the SF-25 was to drive.<\/p>\n

It was bordering between putting the car \u201cin the wall\u201d or progressing in qualifying.<\/p>\n

\u2018Wall or progress\u2019, Charles Leclerc lays bare Ferrari\u2019s troubles<\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s 19th season in Formula 1 has arguably been his most challenging yet, as the 40-year-old has had to contend with the expectations of being a Ferrari driver, the pursuit of an eighth World title, and the world\u2019s spotlight bearing down on his shoulders.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s led to some snappy comments towards his race engineer Riccardo Adami, several downbeat interviews with Sky\u2019s Rachel Brookes, and an overall sense that this is not the dream.<\/p>\n

So much so that there are still questions about whether Hamilton<\/a> will line up on the grid in Melbourne next March.<\/p>\n

Charles Leclerc v Lewis Hamilton: Ferrari 2025 head-to-head scores<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n

But unlike after his title defeat in 2021 when he went silent, this time around Hamilton says his intention is to throw his phone away and take a proper break.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll find out when I do it,\u201d he told PlanetF1.com and other media after his post-season break. \u201cBut I can\u2019t wait to get away from all this. Every week photo shoots and all that kind of stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the thing I look forward to one day, not having to do it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

He, however, didn\u2019t voice any doubts about returning in 2026 when the sport overhauls the cars and engines for his next attack on the World title.<\/p>\n

But while a lot has, and will still be, said about Hamilton\u2019s debut campaign with Ferrari that ended with 156 points, a single Sprint win and no grand prix podiums, the person most in the know as to what the Briton had to deal with, Leclerc, has all but defended him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m driving the car as well,\u201d Leclerc told PlanetF1.com and other media in Abu Dhabi, \u201cand I can see how tricky the car is and how you\u2019ve just got to go full commitment. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s either in the wall or through to Q1 and then you do need to do the same in Q2, and then you need to do the same in Q3,<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what it\u2019s like to have a car that is\u2026 also for the understanding of the car, it\u2019s much more difficult to understand something from the car when you really have to push to the absolute limit. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn Q2 thought I would put it into the wall quite a few times, and that makes it difficult to also improve the car, just like probably the McLaren or Red Bull do by pushing a little bit less in Q1 and Q2, you understand more about what\u2019s going on with the car. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yeah, it\u2019s a tricky situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Leclerc, like Hamilton, is hoping that Ferrari\u2019s early-season decision to focus on the all-new 2056 car will pay dividends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to speak too early,\u201d said the Monegasque driver, \u201cand I want to wait the first qualifying of next year before doing any big statement. But let\u2019s say that we sacrificed a part of that of that season to focus on next year\u2019s car. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I really hope that, yeah, next year we\u2019ll be starting on the right foot. And if that\u2019s the case, yes, I\u2019m looking forward to next year \u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Mat Coch Thomas Maher<\/p>\n

Read next: Who is the most cost effective driver? How F1 salaries compare to points scored<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Lewis Hamilton finished his first campaign ever in Formula 1 in 19 years without a single grand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,13275,817,826,813,816,818,823,44,17165,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-342899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-charles-leclerc","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-ferrari","13":"tag-formula-1","14":"tag-formula1","15":"tag-home-page","16":"tag-lewis-hamilton","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-popular","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}