Why Jolyon Palmer believes Ferrari should back Hamilton over Leclerc

Former F1 driver and F1 TV analyst Jolyon Palmer believes Ferrari should consider backing Lewis Hamilton and asking Charles Leclerc to help support his team mate’s title quest in 2026.

Seven-time World Champion Hamilton was thrust back into the title fight conversation following his maiden Grand Prix win for Ferrari in Barcelona, with the 41-year-old now 41 points behind current leader Kimi Antonelli.

However, with Mercedes proving to be the dominant force so far in 2026 – and Antonelli seemingly locked into a battle with team mate George Russell for title glory – Ferrari may well have to contemplate a difficult decision if they are to stand a chance of winning their first Drivers’ Championship title since Kimi Raikkonen won in 2007.

On the other side of the Scuderia’s garage, Leclerc lies 81 points adrift of the lead – having failed to score at the last two races – and, for Palmer, that deficit could be enough for Ferrari to consider prioritising Hamilton.

“I think there’s been a kind of lazy narrative that Lewis is thrashing Charles at Ferrari and it’s all now his team and this is it,” said Palmer on the F1 Nation podcast. “When you look through it, Charles has been very, very close or even quicker than Lewis on a lot of these recent weekends.

“Nonetheless, I don’t think he’s going to win the championship from this far back. So, do Ferrari at some point start to push the ball towards Lewis’ court because they simply have to if they want to beat Mercedes?”

Prioritising one driver has certainly worked for Ferrari in the past. They won five Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships in a row with Michael Schumacher as their number one from 2000 to 2004.

But, despite the success then, Palmer doesn’t think the Scuderia need to look that far back into their own archives to see how such an approach could pay off.

“One of my favourite eras was [Fernando] Alonso in the Ferrari years,” he explained. “I remember the 2010 season – the British Grand Prix – Alonso was absolutely nowhere. He got no points, was 47 points down on the championship lead, and at the end of the race he said, ‘We will win this championship’.

“I remember just thinking, ‘That is the most absurd quote I’ve ever heard from a guy that’s not won in nine races’. [In] the next race Felipe Massa gave up the position to Fernando Alonso and, from that moment, you had Alonso with sheer Alonso-esque determination, the whole of Ferrari behind him.

“What happened right at the end? He didn’t win the championship, but he very nearly did, were it not for Vitaly Petrov in Abu Dhabi. But a galvanised team behind one driver can give you so much.”

'Leclerc is just too far back in an inferior car'

Since joining Ferrari in 2019, Leclerc has been fully committed to his dream of becoming a World Champion in red. The Monegasque recently signed a new multi-year contract with the team that will see him stay with them for “the coming seasons” and, next year, he’s also set to surpass Schumacher for the most race starts in Ferrari history.

But Leclerc has gone through a rough patch in the last four rounds as a late spin cost him a podium in Miami before he described the Canadian Grand Prix as the “worst weekend” of his F1 career.

More hurt followed at his home event, as he crashed in both Qualifying and the race in Monaco, before another Qualifying crash and a mechanical DNF in Barcelona saw him lose out on more points.

That dip has coincided with a rejuvenated Hamilton in 2026, with the seven-time World Champion collecting one victory and three podiums in the opening seven rounds, scoring points at every weekend.

With that in mind, and considering Mercedes have won all but one Grand Prix this year, Palmer believes Ferrari’s best chance of winning the Drivers’ Championship is by backing Hamilton and asking Leclerc to play a supporting role.

“My point here is if Ferrari want to win the title, they’re going to do it with fundamentally an inferior car,” he said. “They will get closer. There will be races where they’re ahead, and Barcelona was great.

“But Barcelona was still them beating the juggernaut of Mercedes. George Russell is in one of those Mercedes. If he just gets the upper hand on Kimi again, then he will start winning races. If Charles starts getting the upper hand over Lewis, he still has to beat Mercedes as well. So, for me, that’s why I think Hamilton is a long shot. Leclerc is just too far back in an inferior car.

“There is no part of me that thinks Leclerc is a number two driver. I’ve always rated him. I think he’s one of the best on the grid and could be a champion in time to come. It’s just not going to happen this year because he’s had too many incidents.

“Obviously, the reliability in Barcelona didn’t help him as well. So, probably, in years to come, he’ll have a shot. But if you just say for this year, ‘We want to just put everything behind getting a Ferrari champion for the first time since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, can you help us out and be a heroic second driver for the rest of the year?’

“With Leclerc’s pace, he could be an absolute menace to Mercedes. He could take wins, he could take so many points off them, and he could really help out Hamilton.”