Are Leclerc's struggles down to Hamilton's revival? - F1 Q&A

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton on stage at the fan zone in Barcelona

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption,

Charles Leclerc has failed to score points in the past two races, while Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton is second in the drivers' championship after a win and two second places in the past three grands prix

Published53 minutes ago

Lewis Hamilton secured his 106th career victory - and his maiden win for Ferrari - at Sunday's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton is now 41 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who retired from the race.

Mercedes' George Russell was second and McLaren's Lando Norris third, making it the first all-British podium since the US Grand Prix in 1968.

BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions after Barcelona.

Does Lewis Hamilton's return to form mean he is now back in contention for an eighth title? Does it mean Ferrari may soon be putting their efforts towards him for the championship? - Liam

Lewis Hamilton is the first non-Mercedes driver to win a race this year, and he is now second in the championship - 41 points behind Kimi Antonelli - following Sunday's victory in Spain.

But it's too early to make any definitive judgements about Hamilton as a title contender.

Before his triumph at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, the idea of him or Ferrari being title contenders looked fanciful, given how Mercedes had dominated the season.

A significant aerodynamic upgrade on the Ferrari was enough, though - in combination with all other factors at play - to make Hamilton and Ferrari the fastest driver and car on track on Sunday.

But a lot of circumstances aligned. For one, Mercedes compromised their strategy by covering Hamilton's early first stop.

They decided to deviate from their optimum stop times for a two-stop race to lock in track position. Arguably, from that moment on, Hamilton's three-stop was the faster strategy.

Then, the virtual safety car gifted Hamilton a cheap stop that allowed him to pit and retain the lead.

Without that, he would have still been the fastest car on track, but to win he would have had to pass Lando Norris' McLaren as well as both Mercedes - or maybe only one, given Antonelli retired late on.

On top of that, for now, Ferrari are lacking power compared to Mercedes. Barcelona is not an especially power-sensitive track. And the Ferrari is the fastest car in the corners, especially the type of corners in Barcelona.

But the next three races - Austria, Britain and Belgium - are all on power-sensitive tracks. As things stand, it's unlikely Ferrari could beat Mercedes there.

Having said that, word on the street is there is a Ferrari engine upgrade coming soon, now they have been officially declared to be allowed two for both this season and next. How much difference will that make?

In short, Hamilton's Spain win was enough to make the idea a reasonably logical conversation piece, but it will take more evidence from more races before anyone can say definitively he is a title contender.

Are Charles Leclerc's current struggles during qualifying due to pressure from Lewis Hamilton's revival in form? Or is he genuinely struggling with braking problems? - Rob

To address this question, it's important to separate out Spain from the two races preceding it.

It's definitely the case that Charles Leclerc was struggling in Canada and Monaco, particularly with the braking characteristics of the Ferrari.

He had been using different brake discs from Hamilton and they were not working as he wanted.

For Spain, it's believed he switched to Hamilton's brake set-up and was much happier.

He was quicker than Hamilton through practice, his race simulation times on Friday afternoon impressed Mercedes, and he was quicker than Hamilton in the second session of qualifying.

Leclerc then crashed on his first lap in Q3.

He described Turn Four as his "weak spot" all weekend - when compared to Hamilton. And it seems he tried to brake as late as Hamilton there. It worked on entry, but it carried him wide through the corner, he got off line on exit, the car snapped, and he ended up in the wall.

As Hamilton put it: "I was braking very late into Turn Four, which had been visible, and I think Charles probably tried to carry a lot of speed into that corner and unfortunately it didn't work out for him."

In the race, Leclerc had to make up ground from 10th on the grid, and he did so impressively in the opening laps. Then, according to team boss Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari changed Leclerc's strategy mid-race, which suggests he started aiming for a three-stop and converted to a two.

Whether that was an explanation for his lack of pace compared to Hamilton, which other teams noticed, is not entirely clear.

Vasseur said after the race: "He had a good feeling with the car, he was in confidence, he was able to fight for the pole position yesterday.

"Then the fact that we changed the strategy in the middle of the race, it was difficult for him. He pitted once again one lap before the safety car. But I think the approach and the feeling is much better for Charles today than it was three weeks ago."

Over the season as a whole, while Hamilton is 6-4 up in their qualifying head-to-head, Leclerc is actually slightly quicker on average, by 0.025secs.

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Mercedes have two drivers who are battling each other for the world championship. This may be a problem, with management of the drivers' on-track behaviour, but is having two drivers battling each other a good problem to have? - Robert

If a team is in a situation where only their two drivers are in contention for the championship, with no rivals, it's nervy but it's what most team bosses would refer to as "a good problem to have".

That appeared to be the situation Mercedes were in over the first six races, and the team had agreed to let Kimi Antonelli and George Russell fight it out on track.

After their on-the-edge battles in Canada, Russell said the drivers had told team principal Toto Wolff they knew what they were doing and to please leave them to it.

Even so, in Canada and in Spain at the weekend, the team did intervene. In Barcelona, it was to warn that their battle was slowing them down and was making their attempt to beat Hamilton more difficult.

So they backed out of their fight for a while, although they got back to it late on, once Hamilton was out of reach, and Antonelli passed Russell for second before the Italian's retirement.

Afterwards, Wolff said the team would have a talk about how to approach things in the future now Ferrari seem more of a threat - and don't forget Lando Norris was in the picture at the front in the McLaren on Sunday as well.

Wolff said: "There is a third party now getting involved in the championship fight - constructor and and driver. And in that respect, we will discuss internally with the two drivers how we want to handle a situation where we risk holding each other up. I think it's not going to be a problem. It's just maybe we need to recalibrate."

Although it seems the vibration issues at Aston Martin seem to be fixed, the car seems to be standing still or even going backwards. Has the team given up on this season's car and putting their efforts into next year? Additionally, if this is happening, how would it affect Fernando Alonso's decision for next season? - Brendan

Aston Martin have definitely not given up on this season.

They are falling back because they have so far brought almost no performance upgrades to their car, while all the other teams have.

That's because they have decided the best use of their resources in the context of the cost cap is to introduce one major upgrade in one go, rather than drip-feed smaller ones over a series of races.

That upgrade is expected around the time of the Belgian Grand Prix - in three races' time.

A revised and improved Honda engine has also been promised. Honda won't say when it's due to arrive, but sources in the team have told BBC Sport it is likely to be after the summer break, around the time of the Dutch Grand Prix.

Aston Martin's problem is that even if that aerodynamic upgrade makes the car two seconds a lap faster - and if it did, it would be one hell of an upgrade - it will only move them up to Racing Bulls/Audi territory.

That's at least respectable rather than embarrassing, which is what they are now, but it's still a long way from where they want to be.

The upgrade is important on a number of different levels, including in the context of Fernando Alonso's future.

From a team point of view, it is extremely important that it works, because the story of the past three years at Aston Martin has been the introduction of upgrades that on paper looked to be an improvement in performance, only for that performance not to materialise when they went on the car.

They are hoping, following the arrival of design legend Adrian Newey and the introduction of their new wind tunnel, that upgrades will from now on be more reliable.

Alonso is out of contract at the end of this season, and says he will take a decision on his future "after the summer".

It seems he is waiting to see how the upgrades on car and engine turn out before making a decision as to what to do.

He's 45 at the end of next month. He has made it clear he would prefer not to end his career after such a depressing year as he is having at the moment. And he has repeatedly said he believes he is still driving at a very high level.

At the same time, he won't want to stay only to go through another year like this.

If he decides Aston Martin don't look like they will improve next year, his options for racing in F1 next year are not that enticing, as he almost certainly won't get a drive in a top-four team.