Lewis Hamilton’s transfer to Ferrari marks a pivotal second for the Italian group as they pursue their first System 1 championship in almost 20 years. His arrival injects a wealth of expertise, uncooked pace, and a champion’s mentality—qualities that would present the Italian facet with the aggressive edge they’ve been lacking.
Final season, Ferrari fell simply 14 factors wanting the constructors’ title, highlighting how shut they had been to breaking Purple Bull’s dominance. Now, with Hamilton within the storage, the Scuderia has a chance to capitalize on his race-winning experience. His presence not solely strengthens Ferrari’s championship aspirations but additionally serves as an important take a look at for Charles Leclerc, who now has the possibility to measure himself towards one of many sport’s all-time greats.
The Monegasque and the Briton will likely be trying to maximize the potential of Ferrari’s considerably upgraded 2025 System 1 challenger. The Maranello group has carried out sweeping adjustments to enhance general efficiency, with a selected concentrate on including pace. Nonetheless, early testing confirmed indicators of concern for Charles Leclerc, who struggled with tyre degradation. This may increasingly have been track-specific to Bahrain, however it’s an space Ferrari might want to deal with heading into the season.
Ferrari group principal Frederic Vasseur has highlighted an surprising advantage of Lewis Hamilton’s arrival—much less strain on Leclerc. With the seven-time System 1 world champion taking up a part of the management burden, Charles Leclerc can focus extra on refining his racecraft and delivering constant performances.
The 2025 System 1 marketing campaign kicks off with the Australian Grand Prix on the Albert Park circuit, making its return because the opener for the primary time since 2019. Ferrari claimed victory in Melbourne final yr after Max Verstappen’s uncommon mechanical failure, and so they’ll be aiming for an additional robust begin. With Hamilton now within the combine and Leclerc displaying renewed confidence, Ferrari has an actual shot at making a press release in spherical one.
From the very starting, he was sure that Charles Leclerc would acquire important advantages from Lewis Hamilton’s arrival. The Frenchman advised that it would relieve among the strain on Leclerc, permitting him to pay attention extra on himself, which he noticed as a optimistic improvement.
He additionally identified that Leclerc may be taught a terrific deal from Lewis Hamilton, describing him as a terrific skilled from whom there may be at all times one thing to remove. After a number of years alongside Carlos Sainz, he believed that having a brand new teammate was the perfect alternative for Charles Leclerc to proceed his development.
Ralf Schumacher Highlights Lewis Hamilton’s Early Struggles In opposition to Charles Leclerc in Testing
Charles Leclerc holds a major benefit over Lewis Hamilton because the Brit begins his journey with Ferrari. Having spent six seasons with the Scuderia, the Monegasque has an intimate understanding of the group, its internal workings, and the automobile’s traits—an edge that Hamilton will want time to bridge.
Adapting to a brand new atmosphere, studying a special language, and familiarizing himself with a completely new technical group presents a steep studying curve for the seven-time champion. In line with Ralf Schumacher, this adjustment interval may show difficult, particularly as Hamilton seems to be fighting a nervous rear-end in testing—a problem that would hinder his confidence behind the wheel.
Schumacher warned that if Hamilton doesn’t shortly discover synergy with the SF-25, he dangers going through a repeat of his defeats to George Russell at Mercedes. Qualifying, specifically, has been a weak spot for Hamilton in latest seasons, and with Leclerc extensively thought to be one of many quickest drivers over a single lap, the intra-team battle at Ferrari in 2025 guarantees to be some of the intriguing storylines of the season.