Lewis Hamilton is slower than Charles Leclerc throughout the braking phase reveals data, highlighting exactly where the seven-time Formula 1 champion needs to improve to end his early season struggles.
The 40-year-old made a dramatic move to Ferrari after 11 years with Mercedes but the bravery of the switch, going up against Charles Leclerc, are yet to bare fruit as he finds himself seventh in the driver standings with 41 points through six races.
Struggling with qualifying pace in particular, the man with 104 poles suffered a Q2 exit at the F1 2025 Miami GP and lined up 12th on the grid; although he did manage to fight his way to eighth at the Miami International Autodrome.
It’s reminiscent of a problem he had to battle with against George Russell in the final year of his career at the Silver Arrows, suggesting there is something about the current generation of cars that he disagrees with.
Theories contest it’s the rigid suspension or how his famous late-braking style mingles with the Pirelli tyres by causing temperature spikes that ultimately hurt their single-lap life but nobody seems to know the answer for definite.
However, Alex Brundle, an LMP3 European Le Mans Series champion with an FIA Gold license, thinks he’s identified the exact cause as to why the legendary racer is struggling; as he delves into the data and believes it reveals where Hamilton is slower than Leclerc.
More from the Azerbaijan GP
Catch up with Total Motorsport’s latest Azerbaijan GP coverage, including George Russell’s dramatic Baku victory, the full race classification, the fastest lap result, and the Driver of the Day from the 2026 race.
“He has talked about moving the car towards him. And he’s talked about moving himself towards the car,” Brundle said on the F1 Nation podcast. “I look at the data from Lewis every weekend. The trait is the same.
“He goes into high-speed corners and hits a little bit more brake pressure than Charles Leclerc.
“You can draw a line directly up the wheel-speed graph, to the steering trace, and the brake aligns perfectly with a tiny bit of movement.
“It just upsets the Ferrari everywhere. Leclerc is just Mr. Measured on the brakes.
“We know that Lewis had a problem with the same thing, I saw the data, at Mercedes.
“Can he coach himself out of a lifetime’s worth of driving technique to move towards the car? We will find out.”
Hamilton praises Leclerc for managing tough Ferrari car
Qualifying struggles are not something one would expect to find Hamilton struggling with considering how his one-lap reputation precedes him, having the edge over Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg in his career – all F1 champions.
Yet he’s now 24-6 down since the start of the 2024 campaign, leaving many critics questioning if he still has what it takes to compete at the very limit of the sport when it comes to pace on Saturdays.
Whilst he cuts a downhearted figure these days, the Brit does offer a solace of hope by pointing out the data between himself and Leclerc isn’t actually all that different meaning there is a chance he can figure it out.
“I don’t know how much longer I’ll struggle for,” Hamilton told members of the media, including Total-Motorsport.com. “But it’s definitely painful.
“At the moment there’s no fix. So, this is how it’s going to be for the rest of the year. It’s going to be painful.
“He’s [Leclerc] been driving this car for a long time, so he definitely knows it really well. There’s plenty in the data, for sure. I mean, honestly, like, it doesn’t look massively different in the data.
“Just… I go slower through the corners. We do have slightly different setups, I have to look and see whether that setup is the way the car likes to be. Him and his side are definitely obviously doing a better job.”
