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Following a rough Austrian Grand Prix for both Ferraridrivers, former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer has raised a question that will be uncomfortable inside Maranello: is it time to stop treating both drivers equally and start building a championship campaign around Lewis Hamilton?

The math is doing most of the talking. After Hamilton finished fifth at the Red Bull Ring and Leclerc dropped to eighth from second on the grid, the Monegasque driver sits 81 points behind Kimi Antonelli‘s championship lead. Hamilton, by contrast, arrived in Austria just 41 points off the pace after his Barcelona victory ended a near two-year winless streak. George Russell‘s win in Spielberg reshuffled the standings further, with the Mercedes man now second on 131 points and Hamilton third – but the gap between the two Ferrari drivers and what it implies for team strategy is the more pressing question.

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Does Ferrari Have to Pick a Horse?

Speaking during F1TV’s coverage of the Austrian race weekend, Palmer asked the question. With Hamilton only 61 points off the lead, his title hopes remain credible. But Leclerc’s deficit of 92 points is a very different proposition. “Does Leclerc still have a chance of winning the championship? Hamilton does, he’s 41 points back. Does Leclerc, from 81 points back? It’s a huge ask for him. So do Ferrari even at this stage start thinking of the team game?”

The calculation gets thornier when you factor in Ferrari’s pace deficit to Mercedes, which has now built a 98-point lead in the Constructors’ Championship. The Scuderia may not have the luxury of letting both drivers chase their own agendas for much longer.

“If you’re Charles Leclerc, you think ‘No, no, no, no, I want to win this race, I’m starting on the front row, I’ll give it a go.’ But if Hamilton’s there with a chance to maximise his score, do they at some point think we’ll give Lewis the points? Because unfortunately Charles, you’ve not been there for the last few races and we have to think the long term here.”

Ferrari’s second ADUO-granted engine upgrade, a newturbocharger expected after the summer break, may help close the gap to Mercedes. But hardware alone won’t resolve the internal question Palmer is raising. at some point, deferral becomes a decision in itself.

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