Former Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer has argued that Charles Leclerc could be the ultimate weapon in Lewis Hamilton's championship title bid.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Palmer discussed the dynamics at Ferrari after the seven-time champion's win at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

"First of all, there's been a kind of lazy narrative that Lewis is thrashing Charles at Ferrari, and it's all now his team, and this is it," Palmer said. "When you look through it, Charles has been very, very close or even quicker than Lewis on a lot of these recent weekends.

"So, the outlier is Canada. Lewis beat him hands down. But in Monaco, I think it was only FP2 that Lewis was actually ahead of Charles before Charles put it in the wall in qualifying and then the race.

"And in Barcelona, I think it was only Q1 that Lewis was ahead of Charles. So I think Charles's own worst enemy is himself right now, rather than, obviously Lewis is doing a great job and absolutely hats off to him, but nonetheless, I don't think [Charles is] going to win the championship from this far back.

"So do Ferrari at some point start to push the ball towards Lewis's court because they simply have to if they want to beat Mercedes?"

The Monegasque driver currently sits fourth in the drivers' championship with 75 points, while Hamilton is second with 115 points. Palmer suggested that the Maranello outfit could soon decide to back one driver.

Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

By choosing Hamilton as its number-one driver, Ferrari could use Leclerc to take as many points from Mercedes as possible and aid the Briton in the championship fight. Palmer claimed that the 28-year-old could become an "absolute menace" at the front of the grid. 

"If Ferrari could get to a position where they can say to Charles Leclerc, 'Right, you're 40 points back from Lewis. We think this is a long shot with Lewis, let alone with you to try and come back with the pace deficit we've inherently got against Mercedes.' Could Ferrari pose a threat?

"And with Leclerc's pace, I mean, he could be an absolute menace to Mercedes. He could take wins. He could take so many points off them, and he could really help out Hamilton. 

"Question is, would Charles Leclerc ever do that for Hamilton? He's just off the back of this massive, lucrative contract that he's got. He's not there to be a number two driver, but you think if you're Ferrari, that is your best asset to try and make a championship fight out of nothing here.

"And they've shown before, it kind of killed Felipe Massa's morale and career from that moment on. But my word, they nearly got a title out of the ashes of absolutely nothing [with Fernando Alonso]."

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