Hamilton Leads Leclerc by 12 Points. Jock Clear Says Ferrari's Fight Is Working.
GOATIFYFerrari has two race winners, a narrowing gap between them and a familiar problem: how to let both drivers compete without surrendering the advantage to everyone else. Lewis Hamilton enters the final three rounds of the 2026 Formula 1 season 12 points ahead of Charles Leclerc. Their fight has become more complicated since a tense encounter in Mexico, but one former Ferrari insider sees the competition itself as evidence that the team is moving in the right direction.
Jock Clear, who worked with Hamilton at Mercedes before becoming a key figure in Leclerc’s development at Ferrari, believes the seven-time champion’s improved form will demand a response from his teammate. That is an important distinction. The question is not simply which driver finishes higher in the standings; it is whether their rivalry can produce faster cars, sharper decisions and more wins without costing Ferrari when the lights go out.
Clear's assessment arrives after Ferrari's drivers moved from an uneven first season together into a much more balanced 2026 campaign. It also comes at a delicate point, when the team must convert its progress into something sustainable rather than allow a few flashpoints to define the entire project.
Hamilton's 2026 rebound has changed the Ferrari hierarchy
In 2025, Leclerc was Ferrari's reliable benchmark. He outscored Hamilton by 86 points while the Briton struggled to find the confidence and consistency that had made him so difficult to beat at Mercedes. One difficult year did not erase Hamilton's seven championships, but it changed the tone of every comparison. Leclerc knew the Ferrari, understood its habits and generally extracted more from the package. Hamilton was still learning what he needed from an unfamiliar environment.
The second season has looked different. Hamilton took his first Grand Prix victory for Ferrari in Barcelona, turning the promise of his move into a meaningful result. Leclerc answered with a victory at Silverstone. Those wins matter independently of their place in the championship because they demonstrate that Ferrari can build a race-winning weekend around either side of the garage. A driver pairing is most valuable when both can convert opportunity, not when one is merely providing cover for the other.
Hamilton's 12-point advantage with three races remaining makes the change visible in the standings. Yet it does not establish a permanent hierarchy. Twelve points can move in a single weekend through a retirement, penalty or one driver finding the right setup. The last three races are therefore a much better measure of how the partnership is functioning than the temptation to declare one driver the new undisputed leader.
Clear's view is informed by unusually close experience with both men. He was Hamilton's performance engineer at Mercedes during 2013 and 2014 and later developed a strong relationship with Leclerc while working at Ferrari. He does not see Hamilton's resurgence as a defeat for Leclerc. Instead, he expects the Monegasque to work harder, refine his approach and search for another level as his teammate becomes more comfortable.
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That kind of internal pressure can be productive in a technical sport. Teammates share an underlying car concept, but differ in braking preferences, steering input, corner entry and confidence over a stint. When both are competitive, engineers have two useful reference points rather than one. The challenge is separating the feedback that helps develop the car from a setup compromise that makes neither driver happy. Ferrari's best argument for keeping two ambitious drivers is that their different strengths become a resource rather than a source of division.
Mexico exposed the difference between fierce racing and lost opportunity
The sharpest warning arrived in Mexico. Hamilton and Leclerc fought hard at the front, with Leclerc penalised for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage in their battle. Hamilton questioned the way his teammate raced him and suggested the aggression reflected a pattern he had seen in earlier Ferrari pairings. The dispute was never just about a single manoeuvre; it was about where two drivers believe the boundary sits when the car alongside belongs to the same team.
Both have legitimate reasons to race hard. Hamilton did not move to Ferrari to accept a supporting role, and Leclerc has invested years in proving he can lead the team. Asking either to stop competing entirely would contradict the standard Ferrari says it needs. But when the teammates occupy the same piece of asphalt, the immediate battle can slow both cars and invite a rival to take advantage. Mexico offered a vivid example of how the search for individual position can work against the combined result.
The practical answer is not a permanent order of priority. It is a set of decisions made early enough that neither driver feels they are being punished after the fact. Teams can specify when drivers may race, how much room must be left, how they handle alternative strategies and what happens if a teammate is clearly faster. That still leaves room for judgement at 300 kilometres per hour, but it reduces the chance that a technical debate becomes a public feud.
A clear structure matters most when a Ferrari is quick enough to fight for victory. In a difficult race, an argument over seventh and eighth may attract headlines without changing the season's direction. When a one-two finish is on the table, the cost of a missed opportunity can be enormous: points, confidence, team morale and the chance to seize momentum from rivals. With Mercedes having clinched the 2026 constructors' title, Ferrari must find gains in every department rather than donate them through avoidable errors.
There is another reason the team cannot simply order one driver to give way for the final races. The championship position is close, and both drivers have earned the right to make a case on the track. A credible policy must apply consistently: it should protect the team's result first, then allow the individual competition to settle itself where the risk is manageable. If Ferrari succeeds, hard racing and mutual respect do not have to be mutually exclusive.
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Clear's bigger point is that Ferrari needs two drivers who keep raising the standard
Clear's central argument is optimistic rather than sentimental. He believes Hamilton is now receiving clearer feedback from his car, and that Ferrari has shown it can challenge with either driver. When one teammate improves, the other has a new benchmark to chase. Clear expects Leclerc to respond rather than retreat. For a team seeking the final steps toward another title challenge, that is a more useful outcome than a fragile peace dependent on one driver staying comfortably ahead.
Ferrari's situation is not free of uncertainty. Fred Vasseur's future has been the subject of speculation, and names with experience elsewhere in motorsport have been discussed as possible alternatives. Those reports should not be confused with an official decision. Clear, who departed the team in 2025, has argued that Ferrari has made a meaningful step forward and that its present drivers are capable of delivering at the front. A leadership debate cannot by itself establish whether the technical structure is working.
Results offer a more reliable test. Ferrari have produced winning performances in 2026, but the final measure is whether those peaks can become repeatable. That requires dependable execution on race day, competitive development and sensible use of each driver's feedback. A high-profile teammate rivalry only adds value if the factory can translate what both drivers learn into a better car. An intense internal duel without improvement against Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull would make plenty of noise but little progress.
The final races also provide an unusually revealing experiment. Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi offer different circuits and competitive conditions, so the drivers' relative performances should not be judged solely by one qualifying lap or one dramatic incident. The team will learn more by comparing race pace, tyre management, strategy execution and the ability to recover from setbacks. In that broader picture, the narrow 12-point difference is evidence of a contest, not a verdict on either driver's long-term ceiling.
For Hamilton, the stakes are a chance to show that his Ferrari breakthrough has substance beyond a single victory. For Leclerc, they are an opportunity to answer a revitalised champion on equal terms. For Ferrari, the best result is not necessarily that one man crushes the other. It is that both emerge better equipped to fight rival teams next year, and that their engineers have learned how to make the pairing greater than its individual names.
Clear's perspective should be read as an informed assessment, not a guarantee. Rivalries can sharpen people and still go wrong. Ferrari's task is to harvest the first effect while containing the second. That balance, more than the final margin between its drivers, will shape whether 2026 looks like a turning point or merely a season of missed openings.
Ferrari does not need Hamilton and Leclerc to become less ambitious. It needs their ambition to be directed toward the same end. Clear's confidence reflects the value of having two drivers who are genuinely capable of winning, even when their competition gets uncomfortable.
With three races remaining, a 12-point gap and Mexico still fresh in the memory, the next challenge is straightforward to describe and difficult to execute: race each other hard enough to improve, but intelligently enough that Ferrari is still the team collecting the reward.
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