Lewis Hamilton’s transfer to Ferrari marks a pivotal second for the Italian group as they pursue their first System 1 championship in practically 20 years. His arrival injects a wealth of expertise, uncooked velocity, and a champion’s mentality—qualities that might 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 Pink 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 a vital take a look at for Charles Leclerc, who now has the possibility to measure himself in opposition to one of many sport’s all-time greats.
The Monegasque and the Briton will likely be seeking to maximize the potential of Ferrari’s considerably upgraded 2025 System 1 challenger. The Maranello group has applied sweeping adjustments to enhance total efficiency, with a selected give attention to including velocity. Nonetheless, early testing confirmed indicators of concern for Charles Leclerc, who struggled with tyre degradation. This will likely have been track-specific to Bahrain, nevertheless it’s an space Ferrari might want to deal with heading into the season.
Ferrari group principal Frederic Vasseur has highlighted an sudden advantage of Lewis Hamilton’s arrival—much less stress 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 an announcement in spherical one.
From the very starting, he was sure that Charles Leclerc would acquire vital advantages from Lewis Hamilton’s arrival. The Frenchman steered that it’d relieve a number of the stress on Leclerc, permitting him to pay attention extra on himself, which he noticed as a optimistic growth.
He additionally identified that Leclerc might study an ideal deal from Lewis Hamilton, describing him as an ideal skilled from whom there’s all the time 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 Towards 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 interior workings, and the automobile’s traits—an edge that Hamilton will want time to bridge.
Adapting to a brand new setting, 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 might show difficult, particularly as Hamilton seems to be fighting a nervous rear-end in testing—a difficulty that might hinder his confidence behind the wheel.
Schumacher warned that if Hamilton doesn’t rapidly discover synergy with the SF-25, he dangers going through a repeat of his defeats to George Russell at Mercedes. Qualifying, particularly, 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 one of the intriguing storylines of the season.