- Charles Leclerc’s brake switch at Monaco only scratched the surface of his Ferrari struggles.
- Patrese draws on his 1993 Benetton season with Schumacher to make his case.
- Hamilton’s Barcelona win gives Leclerc a working blueprint sitting in the next garage.
Riccardo Patrese, a six-time Formula 1 race winner, has urged Charles Leclerc to study Lewis Hamilton’s entire approach to the Ferrari SF-26 rather than limit his attention to brake specifications.
Patrese made the remarks to FormulaPassion and BetBrothers, speaking from the perspective of a driver who spent 17 seasons at the top level of the sport. His central argument is simple: Leclerc has a fast car and a knowledgeable teammate, yet he is not using either well enough.
The comments arrive during a difficult stretch for Leclerc in the 2026 season. At Monaco, he crashed out while running third and publicly attributed the incident to brake failure, saying three of his four brakes had stopped working properly.
He subsequently switched from the Brembo discs he had been using to the Carbon Industrie specification that Hamilton had run since the Japanese Grand Prix. Brembo, Ferrari’s brake partner for more than 50 years, issued a public statement calling Leclerc’s conclusions premature.
For Patrese, the brake switch was too narrow a response to a broader problem.
Patrese’s message to Charles Leclerc
Patrese argues that a driver’s instincts about setup direction matter as much as the hardware under the car. He says Leclerc’s technical judgement has not always pointed him in the right direction.
“Sometimes the feeling of the driver in terms of which direction you have to go is also very important,” he noted, via GrandPrix247.
“If you don’t have this, or maybe you make the wrong choice, as he declared openly with regard to a different setup of brakes compared with Lewis. His choices sometimes are not so good.”
He is not dismissing Leclerc’s ability. He believes Leclerc may carry more outright pace than Hamilton on a quick lap. But pace alone is not the issue right now.
“I think Charles isn’t out of the game yet,” Patrese told FormulaPassion.
“He has a fantastic and winning car, with Lewis Hamilton, he makes a great team. When Charles really regains all his strength and spirit, he can become a great opponent for Lewis, and he can probably be a little faster. Right now, Charles’ morale is on the rocks.”
The practical step Patrese wants Leclerc to take is straightforward. “If he is not happy with certain aspects of the car, he must follow Lewis’s example,” he said. “If he mimics it, it will go faster.”
A lesson from 1993: Schumacher was smart enough to copy
Patrese’s advice carries the weight of personal experience. In 1993, he joined Benetton as Michael Schumacher’s teammate.
Patrese arrived with experience of active suspension systems from his previous season at Williams. Schumacher was already fast, but he was attentive. He listened to what Patrese said in debriefs and adopted his setup choices.
“In 1993, Michael Schumacher, who was undoubtedly very fast, listened to what I said during the debriefing on the car’s set-up and copied my settings,” Patrese said. “Then he would beat me.” He added: “Sometimes you have to make use of your teammate’s experience to get results.”
Schumacher finished fourth in the drivers’ standings that year. Patrese finished fifth. Benetton took third in the constructors’ championship.
Patrese is not suggesting Hamilton will beat Charles Leclerc the way Schumacher beat him. He is merely suggesting that the method of learning from a teammate is what matters, regardless of the outcome.
There are signs Leclerc is beginning to think in that direction. After Barcelona, he acknowledged a shift in how he is approaching the car. “For now, we’ll be moving in the same direction as Lewis,” he said.
Whether he extends that thinking beyond one race weekend, and into how Hamilton manages tyres, builds a setup and prepares for a grand prix, is the question Patrese is really asking him to answer.
