Hill baffled by Leclerc 'mystery' at Ferrari

1996 Formula 1 world champion Damon Hill has stated he finds Charles Leclerc's slump in form at Ferrari a “mystery”.

Since his victory at the Monaco Grand Prix, Leclerc has endured a highly difficult period in the four races that followed.

The Monegasque driver retired from the race in Canada before returning to the points with a run to fifth in Spain - however at the following two rounds from Austria and Great Britain, Leclerc classified outside the top 10.

Leclerc currently sits just four points ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, despite the Spaniard missing a race this year.

“It's a mystery to me because Carlos seems to come out of the situations and making more of what he has than Charles does, and yet Charles is the guy staying [at Ferrari in 2025],” Hill told the F1 Nation podcast.

“I don't understand what is going on at Ferrari that means he is not getting good support from the team and from the strategy and stuff, it seems a little bit muddled.”

Hill calls for 'better, confident' Ferrari pit wall

Ferrari commenced the current season in strong fashion and appeared to be Red Bull's closest challenger in the opening rounds.

However, it has slipped back in the pecking order at recent rounds with McLaren and Mercedes taking a step forward.

Leclerc has penned a long-term deal with Ferrari and will be joined at the team by seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Having assessed Leclerc is not getting adequate support from the pit wall, Hill called on Ferrari to be more confident in their calls to Leclerc.

“I don't quite understand why that should be, whereas Carlos seems to be able to take command of the situation and just say, ‘Well, I'm doing this, this is what I want to do’.

“Maybe that's given the strategy people confidence which they don't have with Charles.

“So I'm not saying it's the driver's fault, but I'm saying that if Charles is what you've got, you need to be able to have a better, confident pit wall strategy team there for him.”