Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari has set the stage for one of the most anticipated intra-team battles heading into the 2025 season with Charles Leclerc. Ideally, this wouldn’t be much of a concern for the seven-time world champion. However, given his struggles over the past three years at Mercedes, there is no guarantee he can get the better of his new teammate.
While many are rooting for Hamilton to make a stellar return to form with Ferrari, The Race’s journalist Jon Noble believes that Leclerc, carrying over his purple patch from last season, could make things difficult for the British driver.
Noble highlighted the impressive season the Monegasque had in 2024 and pointed out that the world title was theirs for the taking if not for their mid-season slump.
“He [Leclerc] is going to be super strong this year,” he said. As for Hamilton, Noble stated that he needs to find a solution for his struggles and adapt to the newer surroundings at Ferrari to beat his younger teammate.
“The question is has Lewis still got it in him. Has he kind of shaken off the self-doubt that came into him last year with the struggles in qualifying against George?”
Watch out, Lewis…
Jenson Button has warned Lewis Hamilton that Charles Leclerc has the power to make life at Ferrari very uncomfortable in 2025.#F1 #LewisHamilton #CharlesLeclerc pic.twitter.com/qmw65lhkUX
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) May 8, 2024
Hamilton’s struggles in qualifying against George Russell made headlines, with the #44 driver often sounding downbeat about it. At times, it seemed like his confidence had completely faded. Now, as he faces another young driver who excels in one-lap pace, there’s uncertainty about whether Hamilton can rediscover his mojo.
Noble believes that Hamilton’s adaptability will be key to how he performs against Leclerc. If Hamilton can get comfortable with the Ferrari car, he will find a way to return to his dominant form. “If he doesn’t, then the interesting question will be whether he can address his decline or if he runs into serious trouble,” Noble added.
Is there a deeper problem in Hamilton’s poor form lately?
Many would argue that the 40-year-old driver is entering a decline phase in his F1 career. However, there is a mismatch between Hamilton’s driving style and the current generation of cars that have been in use since 2022.
Besides the conceptual struggles Mercedes has faced lately, the Briton hasn’t been able to attack corners like he used to with the pre-2022 cars. According to The Race, this is due to the lower ride height of the ground-effect cars, which prevents Hamilton from gaining time during the braking and turning-in phases.
This issue wasn’t as evident due to the numerous other problems Mercedes faced with their car concept in 2022 and 2023. Even when the revamped W15 concept hit the track in the first half of 2024, Hamilton wasn’t struggling as much against Russell, according to the data.
The average qualifying pace gap between the two drivers was always just a few hundredths of a second. However, when Mercedes introduced a more flexible front wing in Canada last season, that gap increased to around three-tenths of a second. Russell was able to adapt to this change much better than the seven-time champion.
