F1 Insider Refutes ‘Conspiracy’ Claims over Lewis Hamilton’s Dismal Ferrari Run

Bernie Collins provided clarity on the rumors of Ferrari favoring Charles Leclerc and his chassis setup over Lewis Hamilton this year.

F1 Insider Refutes ‘Conspiracy’ Claims over Lewis Hamilton’s Dismal Ferrari Run

Lewis Hamilton (via Getty)

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Lewis Hamilton has faced massive difficulties in performance after switching to Ferrari this season. In the first 14 races, Hamilton hasn’t achieved even a single podium, let alone a race win. Charles Leclerc clearly remains the superior driver of the two, as many people suspect that Ferrari is meddling in the setups of both drivers. During the Hungarian GP FP1, the Briton ran a different front-wing setup than Leclerc, causing speculations that the team decided to favor the latter.

Now, former Aston Martin Strategist Bernie Collins opens up about the alleged favoritism with Charles Leclerc at Ferrari. At the Hungarian GP, Leclerc achieved a pole position and had a great shot to win the race starting from first. However, some chassis problems and an awkward tire strategy caused him to ultimately finish in P4. Lewis Hamilton couldn’t achieve even a top-ten finish as his P12 finish made the fans even more suspicious.

Bernie Collins is having none of the speculations following Ferrari’s mediocre outing at Budapest. The former McLaren and Aston Martin strategist suggested that people weren’t made aware of the reasons behind both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc running different front-wing setups.

Further, Collins explained that the difference in front-wing setups was purely personal driver preference. She pointed out that one setup might be better during the Qualifying while the other excels during the main race. As such, there was no reason to create controversy on the matter, because such negative statements gained traction very soon.

We didn’t hear any reason for Ferrari as to why they run slightly different wings. But I suspect it’s driver preference. One will be slightly better in qualifying, one will be slightly better in race conditions, I’d imagine. So I don’t think there’s any conspiracy there. And these things kick-off very, very quickly.

Bernie Collins said on the F1 Show podcast

Bernie Collins mistakenly labels Lewis Hamilton the ‘second driver’ at Ferrari

Charles Leclerc has trumped Lewis Hamilton in terms of standings this year at Ferrari. The Monegasque is leading Hamilton by 42 points as the latter struggles to bring home better results. As such, Bernie Collins revealed the two main challenges that Maranello is currently facing, and named the Briton as possibly the second driver to Leclerc this year.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc (via Getty)
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc (via Getty)

Bernie Collins talked about the two main challenges, the first one being the car’s performance and strategic blunders. Secondly, the team needed to get the most out of their ‘second driver’ in Lewis Hamilton, and help him achieve the best results possible. She acknowledged that it wasn’t completely fair to label the seven-time champion as the secondary driver. But still, the Italian constructor needed to extract the maximum possible out of the 40-year-old.

Ferrari has two challenges, one being the car performance and the issues, like we’ve seen with Charles Leclerc, and two being, how do they get the most out of their second driver, or Lewis Hamilton, let’s not call him the second driver. That’s probably unfair! But how do they get the most out of Lewis Hamilton?

Bernie Collins noted

Ferrari needs to find improvement quickly in the 2025 season if it wants to hold onto their P2 spot in the constructors’ championship. Lewis Hamilton, despite giving it his all, is unable to score results good enough, as he shifts his priority to the 2026 season now. As such, the team must desperately work on their form and maximize Hamilton’s winning chances in the final year of the ground-effect era.

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