Juan Pablo Montoya believes Ferrari should have asked Charles Leclerc to slow down and protect Lewis Hamilton’s position during the closing stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix. However, the debate surrounding possible Ferrari team orders goes far beyond the single point separating fourth and fifth place. It also raises a broader question about Fred Vasseur’s management of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, the team’s championship priorities and the balance Ferrari has worked to preserve throughout the 2026 Formula 1 season.
The Hungaroring ultimately became another missed opportunity for the Maranello team. Ferrari failed not only to reinforce the growing impression that the SF-26 is a genuinely competitive car, but also to prove to itself that it has finally moved beyond the strategic and operational mistakes that have affected previous campaigns. As Fred Vasseur has repeatedly emphasised, Ferrari’s challenge is no longer simply to produce a fast car. The team must learn to put every element together and deliver a perfectly executed weekend.
Ferrari’s Hungarian Grand Prix opportunity slipped away
That level of execution was instead demonstrated by McLaren. Lando Norris climbed onto the top step of the podium, while Ferrari ended the race in fourth and fifth positions. The final order did not entirely reflect what had happened on the track, as Lewis Hamilton crossed the finish line ahead of Charles Leclerc.
The British driver was subsequently handed a five-second penalty for exceeding the pit-lane speed limit, dropping him to fifth and returning fourth place to Charles Leclerc. The sanction completed a frustrating weekend for Ferrari, with the full 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix classification confirming that both SF-26 cars had finished outside the podium positions.
Ferrari’s result was particularly disappointing because the team had shown encouraging performance during the weekend. Nevertheless, strategic choices, inconsistent race pace and Lewis Hamilton’s penalty prevented the Scuderia from converting that potential into a stronger result. Hungary therefore became another important example of the points Lewis Hamilton has surrendered during Ferrari’s 2026 title campaign.
Juan Pablo Montoya wanted Charles Leclerc to slow down
As the race entered its final stages, some observers questioned whether Ferrari should have intervened with a team order. One possible scenario would have involved Charles Leclerc slowing sufficiently to increase Lewis Hamilton’s margin before the five-second penalty was applied, allowing the seven-time world champion to retain fourth place in the official classification.
Ferrari did not take that approach. The subject nevertheless attracted the attention of several Formula 1 figures, including Juan Pablo Montoya. Speaking to Formula 1, the former McLaren and Williams driver explained that he had expected Ferrari to manage the situation by asking Charles Leclerc to assist his team-mate.
“I was surprised they didn’t ask Charles to slow down to save those points,” Juan Pablo Montoya said. “After all, we’re only talking about fourth and fifth place.”
Juan Pablo Montoya then added: “If it had been for a podium, I could understand Charles fighting to get onto it. But because it was only about points, and considering Lewis’s position in the championship, if I had been at Ferrari, I would have asked Charles to lift off and lose a second or something like that.”
The Colombian’s comments have added another dimension to the ongoing Ferrari team-orders discussion following Hungary. Yet whether such an instruction would genuinely have benefited Ferrari remains open to debate.
Would Ferrari team orders really have made sense?
Juan Pablo Montoya’s argument encourages a wider examination of Ferrari’s decision. The first question is relatively simple: would issuing a team order in that situation really have made sense?
Looking only at the drivers’ championship, there is an argument in favour of protecting Lewis Hamilton’s position. However, the more convincing answer is that the intervention would have achieved very little. The difference between fourth and fifth place would not have significantly altered the championship situation, while the gap separating Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton remained exactly 50 points at the beginning of the summer break.
Both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships remain mathematically open. However, Ferrari’s prospects in the constructors’ competition appear more realistic. It is difficult to imagine Kimi Antonelli suddenly stopping winning races, failing to reach the podium and consistently finishing behind both Ferrari drivers throughout the remainder of the season. The latest 2026 Formula 1 drivers’ standings underline the scale of the challenge facing Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
For that reason, sacrificing Charles Leclerc’s finishing position would have offered Ferrari only a very limited reward. It could also have established a significant precedent within the team.
It is always easy to claim that a favour will be returned later in the season. The reality on the track can be very different. When drivers are immersed in the adrenaline of a race and pursuing their own sporting objectives, it is not always possible to expect them to act primarily in the interests of their team-mate.
Fred Vasseur’s equal-treatment philosophy
Ferrari’s decision therefore appears consistent with Fred Vasseur’s philosophy regarding driver management. Asking Charles Leclerc to surrender time for Lewis Hamilton could effectively have identified a lead driver, even if only temporarily.
At this stage of the season, neither Ferrari driver is in a situation that clearly requires the team to commit all its resources to an individual drivers’ championship campaign. The mathematical possibilities still exist, but the constructors’ title currently represents a more concrete objective for the Scuderia.
Fred Vasseur has consequently continued to treat Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc as equals. His approach is based on allowing both drivers to pursue their opportunities until the championship situation provides a compelling reason to intervene. Ferrari’s broader ambitions and the standards expected from the team were also central to Fred Vasseur’s assessment of Ferrari’s first half of 2026.
A different decision in Hungary might have disrupted that balance for the sake of a single point. It could also have affected trust between the drivers and created expectations about how similar situations should be handled during future races.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc followed different paths
Juan Pablo Montoya’s comments also provide an opportunity to examine the wider season experienced by Ferrari’s two drivers. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc began the campaign at a broadly similar level before gradually following their own development paths, working methods and driving instincts. That independence has ultimately proved beneficial to both.
Lewis Hamilton has gone a long way towards erasing memories of his disappointing 2025 season. There have still been weekends when the seven-time world champion did not feel comfortable with the SF-26, particularly in Miami and Japan. However, once Lewis Hamilton began trusting his own instincts and working methods again, he returned to displaying the qualities Formula 1 has witnessed throughout his career.
The British driver has become Kimi Antonelli’s closest championship rival, although the 50-point deficit has inevitably fuelled questions about when Ferrari might need to prioritise one driver. Lewis Hamilton’s historically strong performances during the second half of a season have further strengthened the case for possible Ferrari team orders later in 2026.
Charles Leclerc has experienced a similarly complicated journey. During certain races, the Monegasque driver struggled to find the right feeling with both the braking system and the car’s set-up. At times, Charles Leclerc even adopted configurations being used by his team-mate as he searched for a more effective direction.
Those difficulties became particularly visible during the incident in the closing stages of the Monaco Grand Prix and in qualifying at Barcelona. Charles Leclerc was not consistently able to build the car around his own preferences or establish the confidence required to extract its full potential.
Once Charles Leclerc returned to trusting his instincts and constructing each weekend around his preferred working method, his results improved. His main objective became continuously strengthening his relationship with the SF-26 rather than following solutions developed for the other side of the garage. Victory at Silverstone offered the clearest evidence that the approach was working.
Why Ferrari did not choose a number-one driver
The 2026 season can therefore be regarded as broadly balanced between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Neither driver has demonstrated a clear and sustained superiority over the other. Each has enjoyed stronger weekends, while both have also encountered periods in which the SF-26 did not respond naturally to their respective driving styles.
That balance is probably another reason why Charles Leclerc did not deliberately increase the gap to Lewis Hamilton in Hungary and why Ferrari’s pit wall did not ask him to do so. Such an instruction would have conflicted with the philosophy adopted by the Scuderia in 2026.
Ferrari continues to regard its two drivers as being on an equal footing. At least for the moment, the team has no intention of formally identifying a number-one and number-two driver. Instead, both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are being allowed to follow their own working methods while contributing to the wider development of the SF-26. That approach also fits Ferrari’s decision to pursue a race-by-race development strategy during the 2026 season.
This may ultimately represent one of the most important differences within Ferrari in 2026. Refusing to choose a lead driver now means prioritising the construction of a stronger team before attempting to build an individual champion.
If either Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc eventually becomes a clear and realistic contender for the drivers’ championship, Ferrari team orders would have a logical sporting purpose. In Hungary, however, asking Charles Leclerc to sacrifice his result would merely have delivered a small favour with minimal effect on the standings while potentially having a much larger impact on the internal balance of the team.
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