It's another Formula 1 season of non-championship competition for Ferrari. And some weeks, the Italian team's efforts harken back to some of their darkest years in the 21st century.
Leclerc's legendary teammate is having a pretty bad year in his first try for Ferrari. By amid it all, Charles Leclerc is defying what his car's ceiling seems like it should be.
Charles Leclerc's stats
Standings Position: 5th
Points: 151
Best Finish: 2nd
Best Qualifying Position: 1st
Head-to-head race finishes (vs. Hamilton): 11-2
Head-to-head qualifying: 10-4
Head-to-head points: 151-109
Charles Leclerc vs. Lewis Hamilton hasn't been close
There was a ton of hype coming into this season that was over a year in the making with Lewis Hamilton's arrival and Carlos Sainz's departure. How would the seven-time champ stack up against the team leader with so much promise behind him? The answer is — Leclerc has left him in the dust.
Hamilton is still looking for his first grand prix podium with the scarlet team, while Leclerc has five. Hamilton has only bested Leclerc twice — Silverstone (where Leclerc's day was an unmitigated disaster) and Imola (P4 vs. P6).
And while Hamilton came into the break at an extreme low with multiple early qualifying exits, Leclerc put his car on pole in Hungary and P3 in Belgium.
Yes, there is a learning curve to joining a new team, and we've definitely seen a weaker version of Hamilton overall than we've maybe ever seen, but Leclerc's domination over him only furthers the agenda of the Monegasque's championship ambitions when he has a fair shot at it.
It'll be very interesting to see how the two stack up in the new regulations of 2026, but for now, Leclerc only needs to best Hamilton in one of the final 10 races to clinch the head-to-head advantage.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari not at winning pace, but still impressive
The avenues for Leclerc to take the top step on the podium have been really not existent thanks to McLaren's superior pace.
Leclerc's pole in Hungary was a massive achievement that shocked even him, but a win seemed near impossible. P3 was the maximum in Belgium, with the McLarens 10 seconds down the road by the 25% mark. It was over 15 seconds to the McLarens at halfway in Austria in yet another P3 for Leclerc.
In Spain, Leclerc put up one of his weaker qualifying efforts (weak = P7 for him) but he charged forward with a great start and a keen late move past an irritated Max Verstappen for another podium. His lone P2 of the season came at Monaco, where me may have had pace to win if it wasn't an antiquated course. He ran a "perfect" race to P2 in Jeddah.
Leclerc is largely doing the most he can with a car that is never fastest, sometimes second-best, and other times third, fourth or maybe even fifth among the 10 teams.
With McLaren's ridiculous pace, Ferrari might not have an avenue to win this year, but you can feel that if the opportunity presents itself, Leclerc will be there to make it happen.