3 key areas where Charles Leclerc would have an edge over Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton would team up at Ferrari for the 2025 F1 season in what is going to be a very interesting battle between teammates. On one side, we have a 40-year-old veteran who is trying to create history with the Italian team.
On the other side, we have a young Monegasque driver who is looking forward to vanquishing another world champion in the same car and possibly fighting for the title.
As the start of the seat gets closer and we get to the more serious stuff, even before the racing begins, both drivers would have a few strengths and weaknesses over each other.
In this feature, we're taking a look at the key areas where Charles Leclerc would hold an advantage over Lewis Hamilton.
#1 Charles Leclerc being well entrenched within the team
It is often a part of the game that is not mentioned much when a driver makes the move. Often it could probably be because in some cases it's not as much a factor. When we're talking about Ferrari, however, the fact that Charles Leclerc has been a part of the team since 2019 is a big factor.
What it means is that the driver is as entrenched within the team as could be possible, and it does make a difference. This means that the culture within the team is not a surprise to Leclerc.
It also means that unlike Lewis Hamilton, who would spend a good portion of the first half of the season learning important things like how the steering wheel buttons work or the names of everyone in the team, that's all second nature for Leclerc.
For Leclerc, Ferrari is home by now, but for Hamilton, it's going to take a while before he's truly integrated.
#2 Charles Leclerc not needing to adapt while Lewis Hamilton has to
Charles Leclerc starts the season in a Ferrari, and he adapted his driving style after all these years. Not only that, but for the first time in a while, this is a car that is exclusively built off his input and nothing from the other side of the garage.
As the first test begins, Lewis Hamilton would be trying to learn the new car and how it works, while Leclerc's learning curve would be much steeper, and he can find the limit of the car much earlier than his teammate.
#3 Qualifying pace
It is quite peculiar to make a call against Lewis Hamilton in any parameter, especially qualifying pace. A driver who has more than 100 pole positions in his career is not going to be a slouch in any way over a lap. With that being said, it's to the credit of Leclerc that on the current grid, there aren't many drivers that one could possibly pick that would beat him in qualifying over a single lap.
Charles Leclerc has made qualifying a speciality for him, where he tends to do a brilliant job in putting the pieces together on that one lap and, irrespective of what the balance of the car is, extracts the best possible laptime from the car.
Heading into the partnership, if there is one area where Leclerc would have a definite edge, it would be in qualifying.