The internal battle at Ferrari is becoming one of the most fascinating stories of the 2026 Formula 1 season. While Charles Leclerc remains one of the fastest drivers on the grid, former Grand Prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya believes the Monegasque star is now facing a level of competition from Lewis Hamilton that he has never previously experienced inside the Scuderia.
The Monaco Grand Prix offered a striking example of how the balance between Ferrari’s two drivers may be shifting. Just days after securing a lucrative new long-term Ferrari contract, Charles Leclerc endured a frustrating home weekend, while Lewis Hamilton continued the impressive form that has propelled him into second place in the Drivers’ Championship.
For Montoya, the significance goes beyond a single race result. The Colombian believes Lewis Hamilton has now reached a point where he can consistently challenge Charles Leclerc on pace, creating a new dynamic within Ferrari’s garage.
Monaco proved a difficult weekend for Charles Leclerc
Expectations were high for Charles Leclerc heading into his home race. Monaco has traditionally been one of his strongest circuits, and the contract extension announced before the event only increased the spotlight surrounding the Ferrari driver.
However, the weekend quickly became complicated.
During qualifying, Charles Leclerc appeared capable of fighting near the front, but a mistake on his final attempt left him behind Lewis Hamilton. The British driver extracted maximum performance from the SF-26, while Charles Leclerc’s aggressive pursuit of extra lap time ultimately ended with contact against the barriers.
The race itself initially appeared much more promising for Ferrari. After Max Verstappen’s retirement at the start, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc found themselves running in second and third positions respectively, putting the Scuderia on course for an important double podium finish.
That scenario changed dramatically during the Safety Car restart.
Charles Leclerc crashed at the final corner, bringing an abrupt end to his race and triggering another wave of frustration regarding the braking issues that have troubled him throughout the season. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, remained out of trouble and converted the opportunity into another second-place finish.
The result allowed Lewis Hamilton to move ahead of both the Monegasque and George Russell in the championship standings, further reinforcing the momentum he has built over recent races.
Lewis Hamilton is no longer simply adapting to Ferrari
At the beginning of the season, many observers viewed the Briton’s Ferrari campaign as a long-term project. After spending more than a decade at Mercedes, adapting to a completely different environment was always expected to take time.
That adjustment period now appears to be largely over.
Recent performances suggest Lewis Hamilton has become increasingly comfortable with the SF-26 and with Ferrari’s way of operating. His confidence has grown steadily, his results have improved and his understanding of the car appears stronger with every race weekend. This progress is creating a challenge for Charles Leclerc that did not exist earlier in the year.
Rather than focusing solely on extracting performance from the car, the Monegasque driver must now also contend with a teammate who is regularly matching him and, on some weekends, outperforming him.
Juan Pablo Montoya sees a new pressure emerging
According to Juan Pablo Montoya, the biggest issue for Charles Leclerc is not necessarily that Lewis Hamilton is faster. Instead, it is the fact that the seven-time world champion has reached a level where he can consistently compete with him.
The former Williams and McLaren driver argued that Charles Leclerc often finds himself pushing beyond the natural limits of the Ferrari in order to create a performance gap. In Montoya’s view, that tendency was visible once again in Monaco. He suggested that Charles Leclerc was extracting everything possible from the car and perhaps even more, whereas Lewis Hamilton appeared willing to accept the realistic limits of the package available to him.
Montoya’s assessment was that the former Alfa Romeo driver could only create a noticeable advantage by overdriving the SF-26, a strategy that inevitably increases the risk of mistakes.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton appeared focused on maximizing the achievable result rather than chasing theoretical lap time that might never materialize.
The Antonelli benchmark tells an important story
Montoya also pointed to Kimi Antonelli’s Monaco performance as an example of how elite drivers can deliver extraordinary pace without constantly operating on the edge of disaster.
The Mercedes driver secured victory with a near-perfect weekend, producing clean laps, avoiding mistakes and never appearing in danger of losing control of the car. That comparison, according to Montoya, highlights the difference between searching for performance through precision and searching for it through increasingly aggressive risk-taking.
Charles Leclerc remains one of the most naturally gifted drivers in Formula 1, but Monaco demonstrated how difficult it can be to sustain that approach when every fraction of a second matters.
A psychological battle may be developing inside Ferrari
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Montoya’s analysis concerns the mental side of the competition.
The Colombian suggested that Charles Leclerc may have entered the season expecting Lewis Hamilton to require significantly more time to adapt to Ferrari. Given the challenges the British driver faced during 2025, it would have been understandable to assume that the Monegasque would maintain a comfortable advantage.
Instead, the opposite has happened. Lewis Hamilton produced an outstanding weekend in Canada and followed it with another strong performance in Monaco. As a result, Charles Leclerc now finds himself facing a teammate who continues to close the gap and, increasingly, compete on equal terms.
That situation naturally raises questions in any driver’s mind. When a teammate expected to be in adaptation mode suddenly becomes a regular threat, the pressure begins to change.
Montoya believes this is precisely what Charles Leclerc is experiencing now.
Ferrari could benefit from the rivalry
While the situation creates additional pressure for both drivers, it may ultimately benefit Ferrari.
The team now possesses two drivers capable of delivering front-running performances on a regular basis. Internal competition often accelerates development, improves accountability and pushes both sides of the garage to raise their level. For Ferrari, the ideal outcome would be a rivalry that remains intense but constructive.
Lewis Hamilton’s recent resurgence and Charles Leclerc’s determination to respond could provide exactly that.
Whether Lewis Hamilton is ultimately faster than the 28-year-old remains open to debate. However, Juan Pablo Montoya’s central point is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: for perhaps the first time in his Ferrari career, Charles Leclerc is facing a teammate capable of matching him consistently, and that reality is beginning to reshape the competitive landscape inside Maranello.
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