Lewis Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari has reportedly divided opinion amongst Ferrari’s Tifosi with expectations for either a “dream team” or a “not easy” period for Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton is racing in red this season having signed a multi-year contract to become Leclerc’s newest Ferrari team-mate.

Will Lewis Hamilton’s arrival unsettle Ferrari?

It’s a storyline and an intra-team rivalry that could define the F1 2024 championship.

Hamilton arrives at Ferrari with impressive numbers behind him as the Briton has won 105 Grands Prix on his way to seven World titles. In sharp contrast, Leclerc has just eight victories to his name.

With Ferrari expected to be involved in this year’s title fight after the Scuderia’s results included five wins and a P2 in the Constructors’ standings last year, both drivers will be determined to be the one to break the team’s 18-year Drivers’ Championship drought.

It begs the question, will Hamilton’s arrival create a dream team or will it unsettle Ferrari?

According to Italian journalist Roberto Chinchero, there are two divisive opinions on that amongst Ferrari’s Tifosi.

“A big part of the Italian Tifosi is trying to imagine how will be the relationship between Lewis and Charles,” he told on the James Allen on F1 podcast. “It’s a very popular topic in the last weeks.

“There are two opposite opinions about it.

“Some believe that Ferrari will have a dream team, that will be no problem at all, but there are those who believe that it will be not easy for Charles to have such a big personality in the other part of the box.

“But all these answers will come from the track. At the moment what I can confirm is that for many years I did not see so much interest in the season that awaits Ferrari, considering that the engine has not yet been started for the first time.”

Former F1 technical director Gary Anderson believes Hamilton’s arrival will create a very different team-mate relationship to what Leclerc had with Carlos Sainz the past four seasons.

But even more concerning for the Monegasque driver, he predicts Ferrari will back Hamilton in the early part of the championship.

“For Charles Leclerc, there won’t be the same family team atmosphere that Sainz brought to Ferrari. Yes, they had their battles but resolved most of them amicably,” Anderson told The Race.

“With Hamilton, a seven-time champion, joining, it could be completely different. Ferrari has already backed [Hamilton] to the hilt in paying him way more than Leclerc and I think it will do the same – back Hamilton – for the first part of the season at least, which could rile Leclerc.”

Hamilton will have his first run a Ferrari Formula 1 car next week when he joins Leclerc for a ‘wake-up’ test in a Ferrari F1-75. He will reportedly take part in a second outing later in the month at the Circuit de Catalunya.