In his second season sharing a Ferrari garage with a seven-time world champion, Charles Leclerc is still filling a notebook on how Lewis Hamilton goes about his job. The pages are piling up faster than they did with any teammate before him.

“I’ve got my notebook with a lot of notes, and probably more notes than ever since Lewis joined the team,” Leclerc told RacingNews365 ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

Asked whether the two of them push each other on through a weekend, the Monégasque said yes without hesitation, and credited Hamilton with the kind of pace that regularly leaves him with pages of fresh observation. Most of the learning, he added, happens on the data screens rather than in the lap time, in the way Hamilton builds a corner from his inputs and the way he processes a session before stepping back in the car.

A braker and a trail-braker in the same garage

The two drivers get a Formula 1 car around a lap in almost opposite ways. Hamilton leans on late, straight-line braking and a stable rear end. Leclerc trail-brakes deeper into the apex and pivots the car in on entry.

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That contrast is what makes Hamilton’s data so useful: a reference that is both fast and completely unlike his own. On the weekends when his teammate finds something extra, the notebook comes out again.

Austin is Ferrari’s last push of 2026

The admission landed in a paddock already turning toward 2027. Ferrari is bringing its final major aerodynamic package of 2026 to this weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Austin, a revised floor aimed at giving both drivers a more predictable platform across different corner speeds. After this race, the team’s development effort switches to next year’s car.

Leclerc was cautious about the step forward, telling The Race on Thursday at the Circuit of The Americas that it is “a small step in the right direction, obviously, as always, that’s the target.”

Hamilton, meanwhile, has not stood on a US Grand Prix podium since 2022 and is still waiting for a first Ferrari win at the track. Race day in Austin is Sunday.

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