Leclerc admits Hamilton had the upper hand in ‘hard, tactical’ Shanghai battle

Charles Leclerc admits Lewis Hamilton had the upper hand in Shanghai, claiming the podium ahead of the Ferrari star in a thrilling wheel-to-wheel battle.

Ferrari was second best to Mercedes in most areas at the Chinese Grand Prix, except the starts, with Hamilton and Leclerc quick off the line to upset the Mercedes 1-2.

Charles Leclerc admits Lewis Hamilton was stronger

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Hamilton took the lead from Antonelli up the inside into Turn 1, the Italian having to defend against Leclerc to prevent Ferrari taking the 1-2.

However, a lap later, the Italian was back in the front, and so began Hamilton and Leclerc’s intense battle, that initially included George Russell, before he broke free of the squabbling Ferrari teammates.

And squabble they did.

Leclerc and Hamilton traded positions, even making contact in what Hamilton described as a ‘kiss’, with neither holding back.

“That is actually quite a fun battle,” Leclerc told his race engineer Bryan Bozzi as he battled his teammate.

Bozzi, perhaps a bit more tense than his driver at the time, simply replied: “I’m glad.”

Leclerc would ultimately lose the battle after one final throw of the dice on Lap 40.

Leclerc overtook Hamilton into the hairpin only for the Briton to come back at him. It was then game over with Leclerc three seconds behind his teammate at the chequered flag.

He accepted that Hamilton was the stronger of the two on the day.

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“I’m not sure if you ask for the team, they will reply the same, but I really enjoyed it,” Leclerc said with a smile.

“Honestly, these cars in four races, it’s actually quite fun. It was just a cool race.

“At the end of the day, Lewis was just stronger. I’m happy for his podium. Of course, disappointed for losing out on the podium on my side, but I know I’ve given everything. At the end of the day, Lewis was just stronger this weekend.”

Their fight, however, didn’t only involve that “kiss”, there was also a scary moment where Leclerc almost rear-ended Hamilton as the Briton slowed to harvest his battery into the penultimate corner, catching Leclerc momentarily unaware.

Leclerc says the tactics the two used on Sunday added to the excitement of the battle.

“I think it was a very fair, hard, but fair battle, which, yeah, was nice,” he said.

“And then there’s also a lot of tactics from inside the cockpit that is really cool. There was this, obviously, this battle for who will get the overtake in the last corner and both brake very early, and the way you deploy and manage the energy.”

It was the second day in a row that the teammates had gone wheel-to-wheel as they also fought over second place in Saturday’s Sprint.

There, however, there was more tension than enjoyment, with Leclerc complaining about being squeezed by Hamilton.

“Argh, the space! Does he know how wide these cars are, or not?” he said on the radio. “Then he can complain about Turn 3, that’s okay.”

Leclerc won that battle, P2 ahead of the seven-time World Champion.

Two rounds into the F1 2026 season, Leclerc is third in the Drivers’ standings on 34 points, a single point ahead of Hamilton.

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