F1 Rumor: Leclerc schools Hamilton in SF-25 Shakedown

Many believe that Lewis Hamilton (pictured) won almost all his F1 races with a Mercedes engine that had 50 to 100 hp more than anyone else. This masked the fact that Hamilton was never the talent the biased British media made him out to be.

Sure, Lewis beat a then washed up Michael Schumacher, and Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes, but that is not saying much. Schumacher had come out of retirement at the age of 41 and was teammate to Hamilton at the old age of 43. Bottas was never a superstar, but he beat Hamilton in qualifying on many occasions.

After Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc schooled Hamilton by almost 2-seconds per lap in a recent tire test in Barcelona, he backed it up by reportedly beating him by 0.8s in the shakedown of the Ferrari SF-25 at Fiorano on Tuesday (per Marca).

The shakedown represented the only running Hamilton and Leclerc will get behind the wheel of the SF-25 before the start of F1’s single pre-season test in Bahrain, which begins this coming Wednesday (February 26).

At 40-years old, many question whether Hamilton has lost the edge.  Many drivers before him have lost it once they hit 40.