Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton admits that he “gutted” for Charles Leclerc after the Monegasque driver crashed out of the French Grand Prix.
Leclerc led the race throughout the early stages, but found himself in the wall following a mistake, shortly before he was due a pit stop.
His title rival Max Verstappen went on to win the race, extending his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 63 points.
Hamilton has hailed Ferrari’s form in 2022 following a handful of difficult campaigns, and expressed sympathy for Leclerc after his costly mistake.
“It’s been great to see the pace of the Ferrari this year,” Hamilton said. “I’m gutted for Charles, who’s being doing a great job, as has Carlos.
“It’s not easy though, having that pace and that performance and maintaining it. It’s a tough job and I feel for the whole team because I know what that can feel like.
“But they’re a great team, and they’ll continue to keep their heads down. Yeah, massive gaps, obviously pretty huge so that’s pretty smooth sailing in that space generally.
“But a lot still can go wrong up ahead so I would just advise them just to continue to push.”
Ferrari has been locked in battle with Red Bull for the opening half of the 2022 season, with the outfits being the only ones that have won a race this year.
Hamilton says that he hopes to see other teams progress under the new regulations, to ensure that more squads have an opportunity to emerge victorious at a grand prix.
“With the rules, the rule change I think has been positive in many ways, however it’s not necessarily really changed the order as such,” he said.
“If you look, there’s always been two teams most likely at the front and there’s been that middle-pack gap and even coming into these new rules, regulations, you’ve pretty much seen that same thing.
“So I’m hoping that the rules progress and improve and the teams can all be a little bit closer.”
