Ferrari will start out in F1 2025 backing Lewis Hamilton, with the seven-time World Champion and Charles Leclerc on course for a Monaco GP “showdown”.
That is the claim coming from ex-F1 designer turned pundit Gary Anderson, who is warning Leclerc of a major atmosphere shift at Ferrari after the team opted to sign Hamilton over retaining Carlos Sainz.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc heading for Monaco GP ‘showdown’?
Hamilton to Ferrari is a deal which has been signed and sealed since last winter, Hamilton having activated a release clause in his Mercedes contract to make F1 2024 his twelfth and final campaign with the Silver Arrows, Hamilton having won six of his record-breaking seven World Championship titles with Mercedes.
That also left Sainz going into last season knowing that he needed to find a new home on the grid, which he ultimately discovered at Williams, penning a multi-year deal.
While Sainz and Leclerc had their moments of tension on the track at Ferrari, a very positive relationship was always maintained by the duo outside of the cockpit, with flare-ups swiftly resolved.
However, with Hamilton now in the team – having signed a multi-year Ferrari contract reportedly worth over $400 million – Leclerc has been warned that the feel inside Ferrari is going to change and that he will need to steer the team away from backing Hamilton.
“For Charles Leclerc, there won’t be the same family team atmosphere that Sainz brought to Ferrari,” Anderson wrote for The Race. “Yes, they had their battles, but resolved most of them amicably. With Hamilton, a seven-time champion, joining, it could be completely different.
“Ferrari has already backed him 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.
“I think Monaco will be the showdown: both are good there but Leclerc is exceptional.”
Hamilton goes into F1 2025 and the start of his Ferrari career chasing that record eighth World Championship which has continued to elude him since his Abu Dhabi 2021 heartbreak, but his fortunes could be about to change, as Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur believes Hamilton – and Leclerc crucially – can feature in the F1 2025 title battle.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will be defending the crown, as he chases a fifth Drivers’ Championship on the bounce.
Asked by Sky F1 whether Hamilton and Leclerc can beat Verstappen to the F1 2025 title, Vasseur replied: “Yeah.
“If you have a look at this season [2024], I think Charles scored the biggest number of points after Monza, or something like this, when we started to react and started to do a better job on our side.
“It means that everything is possible, it’s just a matter to put everything together to minimise the number of mistakes.
“It’s true that on this season, the long season, 24 events that we have always up and down. But what is positive for us is that we had a tough journey around June, July, and as a team, we were able to react and to react quickly. And this is encouraging.”
Hamilton is due to receive his first taste of Ferrari machinery in January via a test session at their Fiorano track, as Ferrari mull over whether to call the F1-75 or SF-23 into action for the occasion, with the TPC [testing of previous car] regulations mandating that the chassis used must be at least two years old.
Ferrari has reportedly also scheduled a further Ferrari test for Hamilton at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – home of the Spanish Grand Prix – ahead of Bahrain pre-season testing which takes place from February 26-28.