After eleven Grands Prix, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are almost inseparable in the qualifying exercise.
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The first half of the 2026 season has seen several interesting confrontations between teammates, but none is as close as the one between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari.
Considering only the Grand Prix qualifying sessions, the Monegasque currently leads six to five against the seven-time world champion. Even more impressive, only 50 thousandths of a second separate the two drivers on average.
A statistic that illustrates how difficult it remains to establish the internal hierarchy at Ferrari, whereas Hamilton had suffered greatly in comparison with Leclerc during his first season at Maranello.
Only 50 thousandths between the two Ferraris
The duel between Leclerc and Hamilton has sometimes reached tiny gaps. In Belgium, for example, only 0.002 seconds separated the two men during the third part of qualifying, in favor of the Monegasque.
The biggest gap of the season between the Ferraris was recorded in Barcelona. Leclerc had an accident during the third part of qualifying before setting a time, so the times from the second part are the last possible comparison between the two drivers. The Monegasque had beaten his teammate by 0.237 seconds there.
Over the eleven sessions held so far, Leclerc therefore maintains an average advantage of 0.050 seconds. An extremely small gap that makes the Ferrari pair the most balanced on the grid on this indicator.
The situation contrasts with 2025, when Hamilton had a particularly difficult first campaign with Ferrari. The Briton now seems much more comfortable with the new generation of cars and regularly manages to get the upper hand over his teammate.
Several other duels remain undecided
However, Ferrari is not the only team where the internal battle remains tight. At Cadillac, Sergio Pérez also leads six to five against Valtteri Bottas. The Mexican has an average advantage of only 0.066 seconds.
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The situation is similar at Racing Bulls. Liam Lawson leads six to five against Arvid Lindblad, with an average advantage of 0.081 seconds.
At McLaren, Lando Norris dominates Oscar Piastri seven to four, but the average time gap remains particularly small with only 0.067 seconds in favor of the reigning world champion.
Max Verstappen, for his part, has an eight to three advantage over Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, but only 0.084 seconds separate the two drivers on average.
Alonso largely dominates Stroll
At the other end of the ranking, some confrontations are much less balanced. Fernando Alonso dominates Lance Stroll nine to two at Aston Martin, with an impressive average advantage of 0.375 seconds.
Carlos Sainz also leads his duel very comfortably against Alex Albon at Williams, nine to two, with an average gap of 0.311 seconds in favor of the Spaniard.
Kimi Antonelli confirms his excellent first half of the season by dominating George Russell seven to four at Mercedes. The Italian is on average 0.144 seconds faster than his British teammate.
Oliver Bearman also leads eight to three against Esteban Ocon at Haas, while Pierre Gasly dominates Franco Colapinto by the same score at Alpine.
But none of these duels currently presents as remarkable a balance as Ferrari’s. With only one session and 50 thousandths of a second between them, Leclerc and Hamilton should continue to engage in a particularly intense battle during the second half of the season.
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