Ferrari ‘hanging on Lewis Hamilton’s every word’ as Leclerc goes ‘own way’ – report

Ferrari team-mates Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton

Charles Leclerc has told Ferrari that he will go his “own way” with the SF-25 and no longer be guided by Lewis Hamilton’s side of the garage.

That is the claim put forward by respected Italian publication Corriere dello Sport who are reporting this apparent bombshell, behind-the-scenes message delivered by Leclerc to the Ferrari team higher-ups, a team which it claims has been “hanging on” the “every word” of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

Ferrari searching for SF-25 step: Leclerc to break away?

F1 2025 has not gotten off to an ideal start for Ferrari, who sit P4 in the early Constructors’ Championship standings. Hamilton may have scored the Sprint win in China, but Leclerc’s P4 last time out in Japan is Ferrari’s best Grand Prix result to show for the campaign so far.

And with reports in the Italian media speaking of a new floor available to Ferrari as they look to make the SF-25 more balanced and driveable – though the team apparently are not yet on the same page over when it debuts – it is being claimed that Leclerc has put his team on notice that he will decide his own path with the SF-25 from now on.

After Leclerc qualified P4 and Hamilton P8 at Suzuka, it is claimed by Corriere dello Sport that on Saturday night, Leclerc announced to team principal Fred Vasseur and the top Ferrari engineers that ‘I’m going my own way’, and will go into the Bahrain Grand Prix with a ‘very clear’ and ‘different’ direction for the SF-25 to trial in practice, with his ‘driving style’ in mind.

The report adds that Ferrari ‘has been hanging on Lewis’ every word’ since the seven-time World Champion made the blockbuster switch from Mercedes ahead of the F1 2025 campaign.

The situation became increasingly interesting at Ferrari when Hamilton – speaking after the Japanese Grand Prix – made reference to an “underperforming” element on his Ferrari and “a bit of a deficit between both sides of the garage, on an element of the car”.

As for Leclerc, he explained after the race that performance is generally lacking in Ferrari’s latest F1 creation.

“Yeah, it was a bit of an annoying race,” Leclerc summarised after finishing a distant P4, just over a second up the road from Mercedes’ George Russell.

“I was completely on my own; the guys in front were too quick.

“In the first stint, I thought maybe there was something to do, but then they started to push more, and they were just faster.

“Disappointing because, when you put everything together like we’ve done this weekend, I think the balance was in the right place. There’s just not enough performance in the car.

“We’ve just got to maximise the points, which is what we have done. I hope that later on in the season, we can fight for better.”

And looking ahead to this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Leclerc added: “I think this is the pace, honestly, what we’ve shown this weekend is there’s not much more in the car, so I think that’s where we are.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went from pole to chequered flag in Japan to claim his first victory of the F1 2025 campaign, as McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri completed the podium.

In the Drivers’ standings, Leclerc sits two places and five points ahead of Hamilton, having finished ahead of Hamilton in all three grands prix so far in F1 2025.