Leclerc feeling ‘psychological pressure’ against Lewis Hamilton, claims Ferrari insider

The “psychological pressure” of being up against a resurgent Lewis Hamilton has triggered “up and down” form for Charles Leclerc in F1 2026.

Rob Smedley, the former long-serving Ferrari engineer, believes the pressure of having Hamilton alongside him is contributing to Leclerc’s inconsistent 2026 form. His comments come after a close shave for Hamilton and Leclerc at the start of the Italian Grand Prix, with Leclerc crashing out of the race soon after.

Lewis Hamilton ‘psychological pressure’ claim from Ferrari insider

Ferrari’s home race at Monza did not go to plan

Leclerc and Hamilton shared the second row of the grid. Hamilton went down the inside of Leclerc into the opening chicane, which put him on the outside for Turn 2.

The end result was Hamilton kicking up the gravel, and dropping down to 10th. He insisted over Ferrari team radio that Leclerc “pushed me off.”

The FIA stewards took no further action over the incident.

On Lap 2 Leclerc went spinning out at the Parabolica in a high-speed incident. Leclerc revealed that he briefly lost clear vision in his right eye after that huge crash, but thankfully, escaped serious injury.

In a post-Italian Grand Prix appearance on the High Performance Racing podcast, Smedley suggested that the mood within Ferrari after Monza would have been a “seriously unhappy” one.

Smedley described it as a “lacklustre” performance from Ferrari. He pinpointed Hamilton’s race strategy as an “interesting choice” from the team.

Hamilton was put onto medium tyres for the race restart after Leclerc’s crash. He ran them all the way to the end and finished P6. Smedley stated that Hamilton “had quite high degradation, and then just kept going backwards.”

Smedley added that Hamilton “immediately got passed by Max [Verstappen], and then tacked behind the two McLarens. It was just fairly lacklustre. The car wasn’t particularly quick.”

After a strong first half of the season, one which featured victory for Hamilton in Barcelona and a British Grand Prix win for Leclerc, Ferrari has now gone three races without a podium.

Smedley pointed to Leclerc as the Ferrari driver struggling for consistency in F1 2026. He suggested that Hamilton’s return to form at Ferrari in his second season is impacting Leclerc mentally.

Hamilton has registered 191 points so far in F1 2026 to Leclerc’s 155.

“You can’t discount what they did at the start of the season,” Smedley said of Ferrari.

“They had a good car. Lewis was delivering, and is still delivering.

“Charles is up and down. But I’m fairly convinced that is the psychological pressure of having somebody as good as Lewis next to him, or a resurgent Lewis.”

Asked if he truly believes that, Smedley confirmed: “Yeah, I think so. I mean, he’s not having a great season by Charles Leclerc standards, right.”

Expanding on that point, Smedley stressed that Leclerc is a racer who has proven his credentials in Formula 1 already. This is his eighth season with Ferrari, and ninth in Formula 1.

“He’s a good driver,” Smedley continued on Leclerc.

“How many seasons has Charles been in Formula 1 now? 10 [sic]. So you make a decision on a rookie that is very fast and crashes a lot, right. That’s the decision you’ve got to make. Not a guy who has been in Formula 1 for between five and 10 years.”

More on Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari from PlanetF1.com

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Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur opened up on the limitations faced at Monza.

“The race pace was probably okayish,” he told PlanetF1.com and others. “The main issue was top speed and overtaking. It meant that it was quite impossible for us to attack or to defend.

“Or when we are attacking someone, we are draining the battery, and next straight line we are losing the position.

“It was more than the pace. I think we were a little bit in a corner with the strategy.”

Vasseur concluded that Ferrari made a “step” with the introduction of its upgraded engine at Monza, but with Ferrari giving up “10 kph” to rivals, Monza was the kind of battle which Vasseur said the team had expected.

“Then the circumstances of the race didn’t help for sure,” he concluded.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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