Former Formulation 1 driver Jolyon Palmer has argued that Charles Leclerc might be the final word weapon in Lewis Hamilton’s championship title bid.
Talking on the F1 Nation podcast forward of the Austrian Grand Prix, Palmer mentioned the dynamics at Ferrari after the seven-time champion’s win on the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
“To begin with, there’s been a sort of lazy narrative that Lewis is thrashing Charles at Ferrari, and it is all now his staff, and that is it,” Palmer stated. “If you look by it, Charles has been very, very shut and even faster than Lewis on a variety of these current weekends.
“So, the outlier is Canada. Lewis beat him arms down. However in Monaco, I feel it was solely FP2 that Lewis was truly forward of Charles earlier than Charles put it within the wall in qualifying after which the race.
“And in Barcelona, I feel it was solely Q1 that Lewis was forward of Charles. So I feel Charles’s personal worst enemy is himself proper now, slightly than, clearly Lewis is doing a terrific job and completely hats off to him, however nonetheless, I do not assume [Charles is] going to win the championship from this far again.
“So do Ferrari sooner or later begin to push the ball in direction of Lewis’s court docket as a result of they merely must in the event that they wish to beat Mercedes?”
The Monegasque driver presently sits fourth within the drivers’ championship with 75 factors, whereas Hamilton is second with 115 factors. Palmer steered that the Maranello outfit may quickly determine to again one driver.
Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Picture by: Ferrari
By selecting Hamilton as its number-one driver, Ferrari may use Leclerc to take as many factors from Mercedes as doable and assist the Briton within the championship battle. Palmer claimed that the 28-year-old may grow to be an “absolute menace” on the entrance of the grid.
“If Ferrari may get to a place the place they’ll say to Charles Leclerc, ‘Proper, you are 40 factors again from Lewis. We expect it is a lengthy shot with Lewis, not to mention with you to attempt to come again with the tempo deficit we have inherently received in opposition to Mercedes.’ May Ferrari pose a menace?
“And with Leclerc’s tempo, I imply, he might be an absolute menace to Mercedes. He may take wins. He may take so many factors off them, and he may actually assist out Hamilton.
“Query is, would Charles Leclerc ever try this for Hamilton? He is simply off the again of this large, profitable contract that he is received. He isn’t there to be a quantity two driver, however you assume in case you’re Ferrari, that’s your greatest asset to attempt to make a championship battle out of nothing right here.
“They usually’ve proven earlier than, it sort of killed Felipe Massa’s morale and profession from that second on. However my phrase, they almost received a title out of the ashes of completely nothing [with Fernando Alonso].”
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