As Lewis Hamilton gears up to don the red of Ferrari in 2025, there have been speculations on how the Briton would get along with Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver has been the Italian team’s golden boy for six years. Thus, come next year, will these two superstar drivers clash with each other to be Ferrari’s lead driver? Leclerc doesn’t think so. In fact, the 26-year-old wishes to welcome Hamilton for his motivation to elevate his own performances.
Italian publication Gazzetta reported how Leclerc was aware of Ferrari’s intentions to onboard the seven-time champion. As the offers went across the table, Ferrari president John Elkann and team principal Frederic Vasseur kept the #16 driver in the loop. This was the time when Leclerc was negotiating his contract extension too beyond 2024.
Despite knowing that Hamilton was coming to Ferrari, the Monegasque driver chose to stay put, as the Mercedes maestro would challenge him to get the best out of him. Leclerc said, “We race in F1 because we want to compete with the best. From a driver like Lewis, you can only draw inspiration to improve”.
The 26-year-old’s 2019 Monza victory serves as the penchant to how a Hamilton-Leclerc tussle is worth every penny to watch. Even for both drivers, that race was special in terms of how closely they fought. Leclerc was overjoyed after the battle as he thrived under pressure from the Mercedes driver.
Cut to 2025, if Leclerc gets that same challenge at every race with Hamilton, he feels that can elevate his performance. Of course, the Monegasque has to iron out his unforced errors and crash-prone driving to avoid faltering against the seven-time champion. But a top driver like Hamilton would certainly motivate Leclerc to do that by pushing him on track.
Not just Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton may boost and push Ferrari too
Charles Leclerc also believes Lewis Hamilton’s addition to the Ferrari roster is a huge boost for the team. Having a multiple world champion driver like him will help the Italian team to develop better. All those glory years at Mercedes may come to fruition for the Prancing Horse, as Hamilton brings immense championship-winning experience.
For Ferrari, that is something they desperately need. While Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso were present in the 2010s, many other factors held back the Maranello outfit from winning the championship.
Now, with structural and technical stability under Frederic Vasseur, Leclerc thinks Hamilton is the final piece in the puzzle to challenge for the title. Certainly, the Briton is not just coming to Maranello for being a podium or race-win contender.
Hamilton wishes to win his record eighth title, while Ferrari wishes to end their 17-year drought. The last time the Prancing Horse won the Constructors’ title was all the way back in 2008. Now, with Hamilton set to arrive in 2025, the team could be more motivated to win the championship again.
Besides this, even technical talent from other teams may want to be at Ferrari now. A seven-time champion at the Italian team could attract engineers to want to join them.
There have been reports of Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache potentially joining Ferrari after Hamilton’s signing. Ferrari would also like to onboard such a brilliant engineering mind from the current champion outfit to boost their technical team.
