Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari ahead of the 2025 season has drawn most of the attention so far. One thing that everyone wishes to track closely is how Hamilton fares against eight-time Grand Prix winner Charles Leclerc, who has already spent six seasons at Maranello.
The Monegasque is acclimatized with their culture and has a solid understanding of the team’s cars. Hamilton will obviously take time to get accustomed to Ferrari’s culture and their cars, having spent more than a decade at Mercedes.
With this learning gap between the two drivers, F1 journalist Nate Saunders expects Leclerc to win races this season before Hamilton does. “I think Charles will win before Lewis wins, just given where he’s (Leclerc’s) at, given his kind of recent history with the team”, Saunders said on ESPN’s Unlapped podcast.
Last season, Leclerc may have had a topsy-turvy time with some major low points during the European leg of the season. However, it was mainly due to Ferrari’s misstep in upgrades. The #16 driver was flawless to secure three race wins whenever the Scuderia provided him with a quick enough car. But can he keep up such form against Hamilton?
As things stand, Leclerc seems in a much better place than his seven-time world champion teammate ahead of the 2025 season. The 27-year-old seems to have ironed out his tendency to make errors under pressure to become a reliable driver. If he can keep up with this consistency in 2025, there is no doubt he can beat the #44 driver.
A solid 2024 season for Leclerc
P3 in the drivers’ championship and P2 in the constructors’ #F1 pic.twitter.com/HYu8qx9TBZ
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 13, 2024
While Saunders believes it is par for the course that Leclerc will win before Hamilton, he does not believe Ferrari have anything to panic about even if the 40-year-old fails to win any of the first few races.
The ESPN journalist stated that just like 2024, 2025 is also a long season and one in which several drivers could win races as the year progresses.
Hamilton is there to win a championship: Saunders
Saunders believes it should not worry Ferrari or their fans too much even if Hamilton does not win a race till May as he is not just there to win races but to win the championship. “Ferrari didn’t sign him to win races in March, April or May,” Saunders added. “They signed him to win a championship”.
The ESPN journalist added that other than the incentive of having a car underneath him that would most likely be capable of winning races this season, another thing that Hamilton will cherish is the challenge that Leclerc will bring.
“you’ve got a long old future ahead of you”
Lewis Hamilton has always believed in Charles Leclerc ❤️#F1 @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/VwZpQ58cb0
— Formula 1 (@F1) January 15, 2025
Saunders believes that Hamilton will have his hands full this year since the Monegasque is one of the best on the current grid. Being one of the best qualifiers in the sport, Leclerc could hassle Hamilton on single-lap pace, which has been the Briton’s Achilles heel in the past few seasons.
But if any driver can turn a corner, then it is definitely the seven-time champion.
