Leclerc dismisses Hamilton simulator theory after contrasting Ferrari performances

At the Canadian Grand Prix, the Ferrari pair experienced very different weekends. While Hamilton steadily improved through every session, Leclerc found himself languishing behind the seven-time world champion, ultimately finishing the race well adrift of his teammate.

Hamilton’s surge in performance was particularly notable following his comments about stepping away from simulator sessions at the Ferrari factory, citing a lack of correlation between the simulator and on-track behaviour. Leclerc, who witnessed his teammate outperform him, was asked whether Hamilton’s decision to ditch the simulator had played a role in the turnaround, and whether it was something he might consider himself.

Speaking to GPblog, among others, Leclerc suggested there is little to no direct performance gain from simulator work alone, while also pointing out that Hamilton’s improvement was more down to setup than anything else.

“There’s no performance we are seeing today down to a setup. A setup is, you can say there is a tenth in setup, but at the end of the day, it’s not that much,” Leclerc explained.

The Monegasque, who has signed a contract extension with Ferrari, further emphasised that in modern Formula 1, gains are decided by the smallest of margins, before admitting he never felt fully confident in extracting the maximum from the SF-26 challenger at the Montreal circuit.

“I think in Formula 1 now, we are speaking about such small details that, no. It’s more about my feelings and just the way I drove today. But not having the feeling, you don’t push a car to its limit. And I can feel I’m completely off the pace. It’s not like I’m pushing and then you can say, ‘OK, the setup is not exactly where you want to be’. By not having confidence on a day like this, I just didn’t push enough,” he concluded.

At the Grand Prix in Montreal, Leclerc finished fourth, while Hamilton finished in second place. However, the disparity between the pair was noticeable in the lap times, with the Monegasque finishing a staggering 34 seconds behind his teammate.

Earlier, Ralf Schumacher backed Hamilton to outshine Leclerc at the Monaco Grand Prix in his recent assessment of the Ferrari intra-team battle.

The former Formula 1 driver threw his support behind the seven-time world champion in the battle with his Scuderia Ferrari teammate ahead of the race in the Principality. Speaking to Sky Deutschland, Schumacher suggested Hamilton currently looks to be in a stronger position than many might have expected at this stage.

Schumacher pointed to Hamilton’s overall demeanour during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, contrasting it with that of Leclerc: “Now he feels good. First, he felt good on the track, and second, he felt good with the car. He just delivered, certainly in relation to Charles Leclerc,” he explained. “Charles Leclerc had been like that all weekend. You can see how fast it can go like that. He couldn’t handle the car well, and Lewis did a perfect job.”

While Schumacher has hinted at Hamilton being the favourite of the Ferrari duo this weekend, it is worth noting that the British driver is yet to finish ahead of Leclerc at the Monaco Grand Prix over the last two editions. His last outing, where he took the chequered flag ahead of Leclerc, was during the 2023 edition. In that race, Hamilton finished in fourth place in the Mercedes, with Leclerc crossing the line in sixth place.