Lewis Hamilton Leads Charles Leclerc by 23 Points. How Long Can Ferrari Keep Treating Them Equally?

Lewis Hamilton leads his own teammate by 23 points this season, and Ferrari still refuses to designate either driver as its priority. Through 16 of 23 rounds, Hamilton sits third in the 2026 drivers' championship on 214 points. Charles Leclerc is fourth on 191. Hamilton fell as low as 17th today at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia after Ferrari gambled on slick tyres on a track that hadn't finished drying, then recovered to finish third while Leclerc finished fourth. That gap is the widest it has been all year, and the question of whether Ferrari should keep racing them as true equals is no longer a hypothetical.

The Case for Hamilton, by the Numbers

Points aren't the only place Hamilton is ahead. He's reached the podium six times to Leclerc's four, including today's recovery drive to third, and retired from just one race compared to Leclerc's three. Both drivers have exactly one win: Hamilton's at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix in June, a dominant drive by nearly 20 seconds, and Leclerc's at Silverstone, a result that delivered Ferrari's 250th Grand Prix victory but came after the race was shortened by a late safety car. The qualifying battle, long seen as Leclerc's edge, is now level. He led it 8-7 heading into this weekend; Hamilton's P2 to Leclerc's P4 in Malaysia today squared it at 8-8.

Where Leclerc Still Has the Edge

The case isn't one-sided. Hamilton has his own extension, too, a deal reported to run through 2027. But Leclerc is the driver Ferrari has backed the longest. He has been with the team since 2019, and the new contract he agreed this season, ahead of his home Monaco Grand Prix in May, has been reported by multiple outlets to run through at least 2028 with options beyond that. Ferrari has never officially confirmed the length. What isn't in dispute is the continuity: Leclerc has spent his entire Formula 1 career at Maranello, and that history, more than the exact number of years left on a contract, is the stronger part of his case for being the driver Ferrari is built around.

The Dutch Grand Prix Problem

Ferrari's two-driver balancing act became visible in August at Zandvoort. Hamilton was closing on Leclerc with fresher tyres, but the team had Leclerc stay out an extra lap before calling him in, a deliberate strategy call that team principal Fred Vasseur later described simply: "Charles was supposed to pit, we extended one lap, and it was a kind of confusion, but I'm not worried about this." Hamilton eventually finished fourth, narrowly missing the podium, and made his frustration clear over the radio. It wasn't proof that Leclerc defied the team so much as proof of how hard it is to manage two closely matched drivers through live strategy calls when neither has clear priority.

No Written Rules, Even After Monza

The tension resurfaced in September at Monza, where contact between the two cars during the Italian Grand Prix led Hamilton to say publicly that Ferrari had no rules of engagement between its drivers. The two made peace afterward, but Ferrari still chose not to introduce written rules of engagement. Team principal Fred Vasseur has instead stuck to the same position all season: Ferrari chose to run "two number one drivers," telling reporters Hamilton "knew it" when he signed and that the arrangement is "clear in the contract." He's also left the door open to naming a clear priority, saying it could happen "if, at some point, we find ourselves in a situation where it's clear he's the only contender" — a hypothetical about whichever driver is still fighting for the title, not a specific nod toward Hamilton.

The Real Target Isn't the Title

Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli leads the championship on 320 points, 84 clear of his nearest rival and 106 ahead of Hamilton. With seven races left, that gap is wide enough that the more realistic target now is second place, not the title. George Russell holds it on 236 points. Hamilton is just 22 points behind him. Leclerc is 45 points back. That's a materially different gap, and it's the real decision in front of Ferrari: not who the team's future belongs to, but whether equal status should still mean equal strategic priority when one driver has a clearly better shot at second in the championship than the other.

The Pulse24 Take

Judged purely on this season, Hamilton has the stronger case. He has more points, more podiums, and fewer retirements, and today's result leaves him just 22 points behind Russell for second in the championship. But a 23-point lead over Leclerc, with the qualifying battle now level at 8-8, isn't enough to declare Ferrari's long-term hierarchy settled. That's not really the decision Ferrari faces anyway. It doesn't have to name Hamilton its number one for 2027. It has to decide whether equal status should continue to mean equal strategic priority for the rest of 2026 when one driver has the clearer path to second place. Equal status is a philosophy. Race strategy is a choice. Ferrari is reaching the point where it may not be able to treat them as the same thing.