Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari from the 2025 season, and the British driver has been tipped to help Charles Leclerc reach his full potential before retiring from Formula 1
Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari from the 2025 season, and the British driver has been tipped to help Charles Leclerc reach his full potential before retiring from Formula 1 Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari from the 2025 season, and the British driver has been tipped to help Charles Leclerc reach his full potential before retiring from Formula 1
Lewis Hamilton is set to transform Charles Leclerc into a “winning machine” at Ferrari before he retires, according to former engineer Rob Smedley.
The British Formula One ace, who starts this weekend’s United States Grand Prix in 18th on the starting grid after a dismal qualifying where he failed to make the second round, will leave Mercedes at the end of the season after an illustrious 12-year stint. He’s joining the Italian outfit in 2025 in a three-season deal.
Hamilton is expected to team up with the talented yet sometimes error-prone Leclerc, offering a new dynamic and potentially pivotal mentorship – before he eventually calls it quits – that could surpass what future Williams driver Carlos Sainz has provided.
Smedley, who has a rich history with Ferrari as well as experience with Jordan and Williams, sees Hamilton’s arrival as a major coup for his old team, suggesting it’s a “win-win situation” for the Scuderia.
“Isn’t this a win-win situation for Ferrari,” Smedley suggested on the Formula For Success podcast. “Because they’ve got this seven-times world champion coming in, he’s going to boost Charles.
“Charles is in this situation where he’s almost – I don’t want to call him the young apprentice now, but he’ll feel a very different dynamic and a very different relationship to what he felt with Carlos Sainz, for example.
“They were two peers both at the same stage of their career – or very similar stages of their careers – both needing to beat each other.”
Lewis Hamilton has been tipped to to mentor Charles Leclerc come 2025
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Sainz has been the only constant teammate for Leclerc at Scuderia, aside from a two-year stint with four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. After a rollercoaster four seasons filled with highs and lows partnering the Spaniard, Leclerc is set to face a new test or perhaps a blessing as Hamilton arrives, reports the Express.
“Charles got a bit of slack here,” Smedley added. “He’s up against seven-time world champion, it’s kind of like, although this was a completely different situation but, it’s like Felipe Massa in 2006 against Michael Schumacher.
“He was the apprentice, and it was alright that he got beat by Michael. Then, by the end of the year, he was actually beating him on merit, in qualifying, not in races, but he did beat him in some races fortuitously. I think you have got a similar situation with Charles. If Charles is not ‘the one that gets away’ [for Ferrari], then it’s just a win-win situation, isn’t it?
“You’ve got this seven-time world champion, a guy who can learn off him, and eventually become the real deal himself. By this point, Lewis is ready to retire and exit stage left, and now you’ve got this fully formed world champion who is going to be a winning machine.”
Mirror – Sport
