Lewis Hamilton has swapped one super-quick teammate for another after leaving Mercedes to join Ferrari, where Charles Leclerc is renowned for his explosive qualifying pace
Lewis Hamilton is set to face one of his biggest challenges after joining Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.
The seven-time world champion is familiarising himself with the Italian powerhouse after one of F1’s most significant driver moves of all time. How Hamilton stacks up against the ace qualifier Leclerc will be one of the many intriguing subplots in 2025.
The 40-year-old struggled throughout the 2024 season compared to his final Mercedes teammate, George Russell, who had a clear advantage in qualifying. The 19-5 head-to-head record fuelled chatter about unequal treatment at Mercedes.
However, a more realistic theory is that Hamilton may have lost some of his lightning pace over one lap, which he will be eager to disprove when the 2025 season begins in Australia next month.
Hamilton questions treatment
Hamilton himself questioned whether he and Russell were getting equal treatment. Speaking at last year’s Monaco Grand Prix, he said, “I’ve been driving the same through yesterday [in practice] and today, and the car was performing pretty well.
“The small difference between the two cars is that George has the upgraded front wing so that created a performance difference, particularly in the high speed. But for some reason as we got to qualifying, I had no more.
“I expect it now, every time I come into qualifying, I already know I’m gonna lose a couple of tenths. I don’t anticipate being ahead of George in qualifying this year.”
GET INVOLVED! How will Hamilton fare against Leclerc? Tell us in the comments section.
Russell disagrees
Russell didn’t agree with the implications of favouritism telling Channel 4: “I think that was probably comments in the heat of the moment because he knows full well that we get the same treatment. Lewis is a winner and of course, these years have been frustrating for all of us, but especially for him.”
Hamilton appeals for calm
Hamilton’s comments led to Russell being targeted by social media trolls, with Hamilton appealing for calm as he defended his teammate. He said: “I think it’s easy to get emotional.
“I think we need support, not negativity, and I wasn’t actually aware that George was experiencing negativity. George has done nothing but his best every single weekend and is delivering for the team, so he can’t be faulted at all.”
Rosberg piles in
The previous teammate to get the better of Hamilton was Nico Rosberg, who had a spicy rivalry with him on and off the track as they battled for the title from 2014 to 2016. Rosberg, who retired after pipping Hamilton to the 2016 crown, brushed off any hints of favouritism following Hamilton’s impressive performance at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi, where he overtook Russell on the last lap.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Rosberg said: “I’m pretty sure they didn’t favour George. One of the best times to see that was Toto Wolff’s comment in the race, when Lewis came out of the box and he was 14 seconds behind George.
“He said, ‘So how many seconds? ‘ And Bono [Pete Bonnington, Hamilton’s race engineer] said 14. And Lewis said, ‘Geez, that’s far down the road’. And Toto came on the radio and said, ‘You can do this, Lewis’.
“This is talking about the teammates! ‘Oh, Lewis, you can do this! ‘ If I was George and I listened back on this, I’d be like, ‘Toto, Hey, what’s up with that? You should be neutral here’.
“So that’s because they were under a lot of pressure, the team, because a lot of fans, every time Lewis gets beaten by George, a lot of fans are like, ‘Oh, this is sabotage’.”
Ferrari warning
Despite his record-breaking number of pole positions, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who works closely with Max Verstappen, has claimed that qualifying has never been Hamilton’s strong suit.
The Austrian says it would be foolish to write of Hamilton, telling OE24: “I would be careful with that. If Hamilton is motivated, he can continue where he left off in 2021. The race to catch up that he delivered back then was impressive.”
However, he said Hamilton’s performance in qualifying must change and is in need of improvement for him to thrive this year, adding: “The Ferrari has to be competitive. And Hamilton has to get qualifying right. That was never his strength.”
Early signs
F1 teams can give their new cars a shakedown before the official three-day pre-season test in Bahrain, which begins on Wednesday, February 26. Hamilton and Leclerc gave the SF-25 a runout at Ferrari test track Fiorano.
While times are irrelevant at this time of year, Leclerc’s fastest tour was reportedly 0.8 seconds quicker than Hamilton’s. Leclerc’s time of 56.060 seconds was only just slower than Michael Schumacher’s lap record, set back in 2004.
