Lewis Hamilton and Charles Lelcerc are set to become team-mates (Image: ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP via Getty Images)
Lewis Hamilton will partner Charles Leclerc at Ferrari next season, with the seven-time world champion deciding to leave Mercedes in an effort to get back to the top of Formula 1
Charles Leclerc has vowed to “show what he can do” when Lewis Hamilton joins him at Ferrari in 2025.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton shocked the world of Formula 1 in January by announcing that this season will be his final one driving for Mercedes, who he joined from McLaren in 2013. The 39-year-old believes that Ferrari can give him the best chance of winning an elusive eighth world title, but making himself the outright best driver on the team will be a challenge in itself.
That’s because Leclerc will remain at Ferrari, having signed a new long-term contract just a few weeks before Hamilton’s bombshell announcement. The Monte Carlo-born star is only 26 and although he knows that he’ll be able to take knowledge from his future team-mate, his aim is to prove to Ferrari bosses that he should be their lead driver.
“Of course, I will learn from Lewis,” Leclerc told Fox Sports Australia. “It’s also an opportunity for me to show what I’m able to do, which I take as an exciting challenge. I think it’s going to be great.
“I knew [for] quite a few months that it was a possibility, that it was on the table. It was still a surprise to learn that there was [an] opportunity of this happening.”
Hamilton’s arrival also signals the departure of Carlos Sainz, the man who has won the last three Grands Prix when either Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez of Red Bull haven’t finished top of the podium. Sainz won the Australian GP last weekend and Leclerc is savouring his final year with the Spaniard, who he’s raced alongside since 2021.
“I’ve had a really amazing relationship with Carlos,” he went on to say. “We have had amazing years together, more difficult years also together as a team, because the performance was not exactly where we wanted.
“But we have been working extremely well together and we are looking forward to this last year together in order to end that in the best way possible.
“Then Lewis will be joining the team, which is an amazing challenge for me, because he’s the most successful driver in F1 history. It’s going to be great to have him as a team-mate.”
Leclerc revealed in February that he’s already in discussions with Hamilton, who’s since endured a nightmare start to the 2024 season and languishes on eight points after three races. Frustrated with Mercedes’ car like over the past three campaigns, the Brit was forced to retire on Lap 17 in Melbourne.
After the race, Hamilton confessed: “I mean this is the worst start to a season I’ve ever had.” He later added: “It’s challenging, but I continue to be inspired by the people I work with. They continue to put in the effort and show up, and that’s the most important thing.”
