Lewis Hamilton “absolutely trounced” Nico Rosberg before the latter pushed himself to extremes to win. Charles Leclerc could now face the same challenge.
That is the warning issued by former Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams, who teased that a test of Leclerc’s “maturity” and “psychological strength” may be coming if Hamilton is back to his best form.
Lewis Hamilton could test Leclerc resolve, says Claire Williams
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Leclerc had held the upper hand over Hamilton for much of their time together at Ferrari, but there has been a shift in recent rounds.
Not since Miami has Leclerc crossed the grand prix finish line ahead of Hamilton. After back-to-back P2s in Montreal and Monaco, Hamilton claimed his first Ferrari win in Barcelona.
Feeling that the team has taken his input onboard, Hamilton and Ferrari may finally be clicking as a partnership. This will become clearer over the coming races.
With Hamilton now 40 points ahead of Leclerc, Claire Williams, appearing on the High Performance Racing podcast, said it is “too early to tell” which Ferrari driver will win that intra-team battle in F1 2026.
But, according to Williams, Hamilton may be about to test just how deep Leclerc can dig.
Williams harked back to the infamous Hamilton and Rosberg partnership at Mercedes. Hamilton beat Rosberg to the 2014 crown in an Abu Dhabi decider, before a fresh defeat of the German in 2015.
For the following year, Rosberg further embraced marginal gains in an effort to finally beat Hamilton. That included giving up cycling to drop leg muscle and therefore weight, extensive use of mental coaching, and sacrificing family life.
It worked. Rosberg defeated Hamilton to become 2016 world champion. He retired from the sport days later.
“It will be a test of personality, probably, at the end of the day,” said Williams of Leclerc.
“A bit like Lewis versus Nico Rosberg. Lewis completely trounced him, and we all know what Nico had to go through to win his world championship mentally.
“Maybe for Charles it will be the same thing. Has Charles got that maturity and that psychological strength to take the fight to Lewis.
“Because Lewis is so mature. Those years that he’s got on him, just perhaps, are going to enable him to win that battle.”
Rob Smedley, a Ferrari engineer between 2004-13 before joining Williams, further warned that Hamilton, Formula 1’s most successful driver, is a seasoned pro at “dominating” teammates.
“He knows how to beat teammates year in, year out. He knows,” said Smedley.
“Nico Rosberg went through all of that pain to beat him, but still had, I would say, the balance of luck that year.
“I mean, Lewis stopped a lot of times that year, he had a lot of failures, and he still only just nicked it.
“Lewis has spent a long time now dominating teammates.”
Of course, there is an “anomaly” in that statement.
Leclerc is looking to prove that he can beat a Hamilton fully acclimatised at Ferrari, but George Russell came in to Mercedes and beat Hamilton in his own back yard.
Russell outscored Hamilton in 2022, their first season as Mercedes teammates, and again in 2024 before Hamilton’s departure for Ferrari.
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“The anomaly in all of that is George Russell towards the end of his [Hamilton’s] time in Mercedes,” Smedley added.
“George actually delivered against Lewis.”
Next up is the Austrian Grand Prix, a race won by Hamilton in 2016 and Leclerc in 2022.
Hamilton is a two-time winner at the Red Bull Ring, having also won the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix.
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Originally published by Planet F1 —
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