Helmut Marko often makes critical comments against Lewis Hamilton. However, as the seven-time champion moves away to Ferrari in 2025, the Red Bull advisor has suddenly sweetened his tone towards him. Marko praised Hamilton and is also willing to bet on him in his battle against Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.
Speaking to Sport.de, Marko gave his views on how the Leclerc v Hamilton battle will pan out next season. As quoted by FormulaPassion, the 80-year-old believes the Monegasque driver will be quicker in qualifying.
However, throughout the season, Hamilton will rise as the better “horse” in race pace, he claimed. While Marko expects it to be close between the duo, he is perhaps backing the Briton’s years of championship-winning experience.
Both Leclerc and Hamilton are two of the best qualifiers in F1 currently. Their pace over one lap is phenomenal. So, this will benefit Ferrari a lot as their car’s strength is in qualifying too. Although, as the #16 driver is often prone to making errors in races, Marko‘s assessment makes sense.
So, Leclerc has got a task at hand to translate his super quick qualifying abilities to a consistent race pace too. Hamilton will indeed be a very difficult teammate to beat overall on all fronts. Moreover, the 26-year-old has got an awful record of converting poles to wins. Despite getting 23 poles so far, Leclerc has only won five races, four of which were from pole.
In fact, Max Verstappen has won more races when the Monegasque was on pole. Thus, Leclerc would want to change this statistic from his name with Hamilton coming as his teammate.
As for Marko, it is really rare for him to praise Hamilton. Just a day later after his Ferrari deal confirmation, the Austrian veteran criticized the #44 driver about his motives for moving to the Italian outfit.
Helmut Marko claims salary as the reason for Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari
Helmut Marko claimed that Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was influenced by him not being the highest-paid driver anymore when he was at Mercedes. The Red Bull advisor also stated that the Briton cannot digest the fact that he is not the defending champion now.
Marko stated, “Given that now the highest-paid is Verstappen. This fact can change with the help of Ferrari.” In 2023, Verstappen earned a whopping $70 million, as per Forbes. On this list, Hamilton stood 2nd with a salary of $55 million.
Now, as per reports on the 39-year-old’s Ferrari deal, he will earn a salary of $87 million as per Sportune. Meanwhile, journalist Vincenzo Landino also claimed that this salary figure could go beyond $100 million in 2025.
This amount includes multiple components including a $20-21 million bonus for Hamilton’s off-track ventures such as Mission 44. Still, if the total goes beyond $80 or $90 million, it will help Hamilton to retake that spot as the highest-paid driver. Although, as Marko’s second reasoning, the seven-time champion would be looking to win that elusive eighth title.
