Revealed: Hamilton's Ferrari awakening courtesy of Charles Leclerc

The Scuderia has so far been unable to live up to the lofty standards set by their 2024 season when they took the fight to McLaren in the Constructors' championship, which the Maranello-based outfit lost by a mere 14-point margin in a battle that went down to the wire.

As Lewis Hamilton recently grew his longest podium-free streak in his F1 tenure, from 13 to 14 races, Charles Leclerc, though more successful than his teammate has not managed more than a P3 result, of which he's amassed four, with his Austrian GP podium being his most recent top 3 result.

Rumours have sarfaced since the start of the season pointing to Ferrari's 2025 challenger having been tailored to Leclerc, leaving Hamilton with plenty of ground to cover on top of the necessary adaptation process he needed to undergo in terms of the braking and electronic systems of the Italian car.

As quoted by AutoRacer.it, deputy team principal Jerome D'Ambrosio highlighted Ferrari's present goals.

"At the moment it's definitely about extracting the maximum potential from the car. There's a certain need in terms of balance," team principal Frederic Vasseur's right hand man explained.

"Charles moved towards a slightly more oversteering car for a few races, and it worked well. Lewis has moved in that direction recently and is making things work," he added, revealing the factor that's aided Hamilton's upturn in form visible since Canada where he scored his best qualifying result of the season up until his P4 on Saturday afternoon at the Red Bull Ring a fortnight later.

The current regulations, the Belgian believes makes for very nervous cars, which he labels 'a fact of life', so there really only is but one simple and to the point conclusion: "Drivers need to be able to manage them to some extent."

“Obviously, we listen to the drivers' suggestions, both of us," D'Ambrosio added. "There are a lot of things we can do to ensure the drivers have everything they need to try to work and make the car adapt as much as possible to their driving style," echoing Leclerc's words on the matter.

Ultimately, the Ferrari deputy team principal doesn't see the need to favour either driver. Instead, he, as has traditionally been the case at Maranello, puts Ferrari first.

“We have to be careful when we say a car is built around this or that. The car is always built around trying to extract the maximum potential, have the maximum downforce," D'Ambrosio concluded.