Charles Leclerc snubs 'driving style' excuses as Lewis Hamilton's struggles at Ferrari continue to grab the spotlight

While Lewis Hamilton continued to struggle in adapting his driving style to Ferrari, Charles Leclerc has snubbed the notion that driving style was paramount for succeeding as a driver. The question of driving style has been making the rounds this season, especially since the 7x F1 champion has made the move to the Italian team.

The driver has stressed the importance of being able to adapt to Ferrari, as this was something that he has struggled with, primarily because his driving style did not fit the car perfectly. Ever since the new regulations have come into effect, Hamilton has not been at his best.

In the three years at Mercedes with George Russell, Hamilton was outscored twice. Even in Ferrari, his troubles with the ground effect cars continue to be there. In the five races, the only shining light has been the Chinese GP race weekend, where the driver secured pole position and won the Sprint.

Other than that, Hamilton has been dominated by Charles Leclerc. In Jeddah, he stated that his driving style did not mesh perfectly with the car. His teammate Leclerc was questioned about the driving style and its importance, to which the driver dismissed the notion that it was paramount to success. In a unique take, the driver told the media, including Sportskeeda:

“I see lots of things around that most of the time, that driving style is super important. I feel like you have more than enough freedom in the car setup to adapt a car to someone's driving style. So that doesn't change a lot. It's always a bit more helpful to be pushing in the same direction, because we need the same thing from a car.”

Lewis Hamilton added:

“With Lewis, I was very surprised how similar we would approach the corners in corner entry. I don't want to do any particular compare with other drivers, but when Lewis came, I did not expect that and we are both quite aggressive in corner entry and that means that we require the same things out of the car for sure."

Lewis Hamilton's gloomy prediction for Miami

Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, continued to have a downbeat attitude towards the issues he's facing with Ferrari. Looking ahead to Miami, the driver didn't think that things would improve for him, and a better result could be on the table.

On the contrary, Hamilton predicted more pain in the upcoming races as he said:

“I think I’ll struggle also in Miami. I don’t know how much longer I’ll struggle for, 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.”

In what could be a potential upside for Lewis Hamilton, the upcoming weekend in Miami is a Sprint. The only race he performed well was a Sprint weekend as well, so maybe the format could potentially play into a better result for the driver.