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Riccardo Ceccarelli, the mental coach who has worked with Charles Leclerc for years, has warned Ferrari that designating Lewis Hamilton as outright number one driver could disrupt the team's internal balance. Speaking to Motorsport.com, Ceccarelli argued that despite Hamilton's stronger championship position, the 50-point gap to leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli is too large to justify the kind of team orders that would undermine Leclerc's status. The intervention comes as Ferrari faces mounting pressure to consolidate its challenge behind the seven-time world champion.
Hamilton currently trails championship leader Antonelli by 50 points, while Leclerc sits a further 19 points back in third. The Monegasque driver has outscored his teammate in each of the last three races, a sequence that complicates any attempt to install a clear hierarchy at this stage of the season.
Calls for Ferrari to favour Hamilton intensified ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, where analysts including former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer suggested the Scuderia should maximise its title chances by backing the more experienced campaigner. Ferrari had an opportunity to act in Budapest when Hamilton received a five-second time penalty; the team could have asked Leclerc to slow and protect Hamilton's fourth place. It chose not to.
The cost of hierarchy
Ceccarelli, who has worked closely with Leclerc throughout his Ferrari tenure, believes such intervention would carry significant risk. "You would essentially be telling Charles: from now on, you are the one who has to sacrifice yourself because Hamilton is our number one," he told Motorsport.com. "For a driver like Leclerc, that would be a serious blow to his status, especially since the championship is far from decided and there is no clear necessity for it at this point."
The mental coach's position reflects a broader tension within teams that field two competitive drivers. While a 50-point deficit is substantial, it is not insurmountable with enough races remaining. Ceccarelli argued that imposing team orders now could destabilise Ferrari's internal dynamic without delivering a meaningful advantage in the title fight. "That gap is still considerable," he said. "If Ferrari introduces such a clear hierarchy now, it puts the balance within the team at risk. You only know afterwards whether such a decision was the right one, because titles are sometimes decided by just a few points."
When team orders make sense
Ceccarelli did not rule out supporting Hamilton entirely, but set a much tighter threshold for intervention. "I would never tell Charles that he has to sacrifice himself for Hamilton. In my opinion, that creates more problems than benefits," he said. "If the gap to Antonelli were only ten points, I would have asked Leclerc to help Hamilton, because the title would then genuinely be within reach. But with a 50-point deficit, I would not even think about it at this stage."
His comments underscore the delicate calculus Ferrari must navigate. The team has not won a drivers' championship since 2007, and Hamilton's arrival was meant to end that drought. Yet Leclerc's recent form suggests he remains a credible contender, and any perception that he has been sidelined prematurely could fracture the cooperation Ferrari needs to mount a sustained challenge. The dynamic between the two drivers, and how Ferrari manages it in the races ahead, may prove as consequential as the performance of the car itself.
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