Hamilton Tilts Ferrari Battle, Smedley Says Leclerc Can Recover
NXTbets Pro | Published On: June 22, 2026
Hamilton tilts Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton has changed the shape of Ferrari’s fight with Charles Leclerc after winning his first race for the team at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. Rob Smedley said Ferrari personnel and the Italian media have put Hamilton on a pedestal, and he believes that has shifted the balance inside the garage. Smedley called the change “not nice” for Leclerc, who now has to absorb the weight of a teammate who has found sharper form over the last few races. He also said it would be unrealistic to expect Hamilton to beat Leclerc every weekend, but the seven-time world champion has looked stronger as his Ferrari routine settles. Hamilton has said his improved results come from changes in his race team, his race engineer and his weekend approach, and that explanation fits the run of performances Ferrari has seen. David Coulthard took a similar view, saying Ferrari’s intra-team battles, including the fight in Shanghai, show Hamilton is working back toward top form. Smedley still expects the contest to tighten later in the season, with Leclerc recovering from the early swing in momentum, but he believes Hamilton will still “nick it” in the end.
Leclerc absorbs pressure
Leclerc has the contract security to answer Hamilton’s surge, and Ferrari gave him that cushion before his home race in Monaco. That matters because the team does not need an immediate reaction from him, only a response over time. Coulthard said Leclerc has the maturity to deal with the pressure of sharing a team with a seven-time world champion, and he should not expect to beat Hamilton every weekend. The recent results have still worked against him. Leclerc outperformed Hamilton in 2025, but his 2026 campaign has been marked by a lack of pace and costly mistakes. Monaco brought one crash. Barcelona qualifying brought another. His weekend at Barcelona-Catalunya unraveled after the qualifying crash, then ended in retirement from the race because of a power steering issue. Hamilton’s victory and Leclerc’s setbacks left Hamilton 40 points ahead in the drivers’ standings after Barcelona, a gap that shows how fast the order inside Ferrari can move when one driver finds rhythm and the other keeps losing ground.
Ferrari battle widens
The broader read from the paddock is that Hamilton now faces a very different version of Ferrari’s internal contest. Jacques Villeneuve said Leclerc benefited when Hamilton was underperforming last year, when the Ferrari driver held the edge on pace and results. Villeneuve suggested that Leclerc may now be up against a teammate who is more capable and fully adapted to the car. That point lines up with Hamilton’s own explanation for the turnaround, since his stronger results have come from changes around his race operation rather than from a single breakthrough on track. It also matches Smedley’s view that Hamilton has been the better driver over the last few races, even if no one should expect that gap to hold every weekend. Leclerc still has time to reset the battle. He has the contract in hand, and Smedley expects him to recover from the setback. The long view points to a more balanced fight later in the season, but the opening phase has already given Hamilton the upper hand and forced Leclerc to chase the momentum inside Ferrari.
