Charles Leclerc shows true colours with comments about Lewis Hamilton | F1 | Sport

Charles Leclerc showed his class as he looked past his own disappointment to congratulate team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The Brit delivered a first Ferrari Grand Prix victory since 2024 at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix with a performance which rolled back the years, as Hamilton found supreme pace to win in the searing Spanish sunshine.

But in the other Ferrari there was more disappointment for Leclerc, who is on a wretched recent run. Plagued by braking issues in Montreal and Monaco, he crashed out of the latter – his home race – and things didn’t get better this weekend when he smashed up his car again in qualifying. That left him 10th on the grid while Hamilton booked his place on the front row.

Leclerc made as much progress as he could in the race, but it all ended up being in vain as, with four laps to go, he went hurtling off track when he tried to turn into a corner to find that he had no power steering. He managed to get the car back to the pit lane but all Ferrari could do was retire the car, meaning another pointless weekend for the Monegasque.

He was a picture of disappointment as he made his way to the media pen to speak to reporters about another tough Sunday in a difficult run. “I had a brake-by-wire failure and I had no power steering anymore into the corner,” he explained. “There was no power steering suddenly and that was the end of my race.”

But despite his own disappointment, Leclerc was delighted for Hamilton. That’s despite his team-mate being 40 points ahead of him in the drivers’ championship. Asked if he could take some pride in helping the team to a first win of the year, Leclerc said: “I don’t want to take any credit for today’s race, I don’t think I had a role in it at all.

“I think Lewis and the team have done a good job and they eventually got the win all by themselves. Lewis won by an incredible margin, about 20 seconds, and he’s been incredible in the last few weekends. He’s been really on it and he deserves all of this. It’s up to me to up my game, find the confidence in this car and put everything together to hopefully, with a clean weekend, fight for the podium.”

For Hamilton and Ferrari, it was “the first step in our story”. Those were the Brit’s own words as he processed what he had achieved, aged 41. He said: “I think it will take me some days. I will look back at this and wish I had the right words, but how do you find the right words to express an emotion that is beyond your wildest dreams?

“I feel a lot of gratitude and pride in the people I work with. Seeing them sing the national anthem today was an incredible feeling, just the best. And being in a red suit standing in front of that crowd singing the national anthem, it was amazing to witness the joy in their eyes. I think this is the first step of our story.”