{"id":364039,"date":"2025-12-22T07:08:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T07:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/364039\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T07:08:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T07:08:09","slug":"lewis-hamilton-shares-true-feelings-on-leclerc-defeat-and-f1-2026-implications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/364039\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton shares true feelings on Leclerc defeat and F1 2026 implications"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lewis Hamilton was soundly defeated by Charles Leclerc, in what was Hamilton\u2019s first Ferrari season. But, he is \u201cnot concerned\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Even with his F1 2026 hat on, should Ferrari become an improved package, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/driver\/lewis-hamilton\/results\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hamilton<\/a> does not believe that the alarm bells are ringing. He pointed to how Leclerc\u2019s side of the Ferrari garage is a \u201cwell-oiled machine\u201d, while he is still settling in and building relationships.<\/p>\n<p>Lewis Hamilton \u2018not concerned\u2019 over Charles Leclerc defeat<\/p>\n<p>Hamilton struggled to live up to the hype that his blockbuster move to Ferrari for F1 2025 had generated.<\/p>\n<p>The seven-time World Champion experienced record-breaking success with Mercedes, but went the entire 2025 season without a podium, for the first time in his career, upon linking up with Ferrari.<\/p>\n<p>It was a disappointing season for Ferrari in general, though Leclerc delivered the better performances. He made the podium seven times and ended the season 86 points better off than Hamilton.<\/p>\n<p>Ferrari\u2019s only form of victory in 2025 did come via Hamilton, who won the China Sprint, but it was one of precious few highlights.<\/p>\n<p>But, when Hamilton was quizzed on that second-best showing versus Leclerc, and the potential implications for F1 2026, he played it cool.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not concerned about it, no,\u201d Hamilton said.<\/p>\n<p>F1 2026 offers the chance at redemption for Hamilton and Ferrari. Sweeping changes to the chassis and engine regulations come into effect, the kind of shake-up which can trigger major shifts in the pecking order.<\/p>\n<p>Ferrari gave up developing their SF-25 back in April to focus on the new era ahead.<\/p>\n<p>But, even if Ferrari does emerge as a leading team, 2025 suggested that Leclerc could be the better placed driver to deliver.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve just been focusing on my side during this period,\u201d Hamilton stressed on his first season struggles at Ferrari.<\/p>\n<p>Lewis Hamilton vs Charles Leclerc: Final 2025 head-to-head standings<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/f1-2025-qualifying-head-to-head-team-mates\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/f1-2025-race-head-to-head-team-mates\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously, Charles has done a great job. He\u2019s been there for seven years. He\u2019s got a team around him that he\u2019s worked with for many years. So, it\u2019s a well-oiled machine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn my side, it\u2019s a new group of people. For me, it\u2019s a new environment that I\u2019m still getting used to working with. Then I had another new member halfway through the year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, we\u2019re all working as hard as we can, but getting that to work as well as someone that\u2019s had it for several years is not\u2026 you don\u2019t just do it like that. It takes a bit of time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hamilton is under Ferrari contract until at least the end of F1 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our <a href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VaUcBxk6BIEcgEnwDi1T\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n<p>You can also subscribe to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@planetf1com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n<p>Read next \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetf1.com\/news\/f1-2026-engine-loophole-claims-whats-really-going-on\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">F1 2026 engine \u2018loophole\u2019 claims: What\u2019s really going on?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton was soundly defeated by Charles Leclerc, in what was Hamilton\u2019s first Ferrari season. But, he is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364040,"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":["post-364039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-f1","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-home-page","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-news","tag-popular","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364039","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=364039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}