'I'm not going to change' - Leclerc rejects Hamilton's Ferrari simulator approach

Charles Leclerc has made it clear he has no intention of altering his race preparation routine, despite Lewis Hamilton's decision to ditch the Ferrari simulator before his strongest outings of the season. Hamilton scored podiums in Shanghai and Montreal after skipping sim work, but Leclerc remains committed to the Scuderia's simulation program.

Why it matters:

The contrasting approaches highlight a key strategic divergence within Ferrari's driver pairing. While Hamilton's 'old school' method yielded instant results, Leclerc's reliance on the simulator is tied to the car's development process—making a potential performance gap a team-wide concern.

The details:

• Hamilton vowed to avoid the simulator after a disappointing P6 in Miami, calling it a "powerful tool" but noting his best weekends came without it. In Montreal, he finished P2 and doubled down on his approach: "I'm old school. I'm probably better without it."
• Former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley revealed Maranello staff "shrugged their shoulders" when asked about Hamilton's refusal, adding that a sample size of one race makes the correlation statistically fragile.
• Leclerc, speaking ahead of the Monaco GP, was firm: "It doesn't affect my preparation at all. The simulator has been working very well for me. Often we make car changes based on what we try in the sim, so it's part of the development process. I'll keep going there."
• The Monegasque finished P4 in Montreal, just behind Hamilton, but showed strong pace throughout the weekend.

What's next:

Both drivers will continue their respective routines heading into the next rounds. Leclerc's loyalty to the simulator could prove crucial for long-term car development, but Hamilton's recent results put pressure on the data-driven approach. Ferrari will watch closely to see which method yields championship points more consistently.