The eagle-eyed amongst the ‘twitter-sphere’ on Tuesday noticed one thing far too endearing to disregard in London. Sat subsequent to one another in modern black fits, and had been already turned off by the preamble in The O2. As such, Leclerc whipped out his cell phone and triggered a recreation of on-line chess between the pair. At present, Hamilton has a one-game lead.
Nip-and-tuck already, it appears, within the quest for checkmate. This yr, seven-time world champion Hamilton and ’s long-term golden boy Leclerc might be teammates on the prancing horse but, in the identical breath, will carve out each millisecond to beat the opposite.
Is your teammate your pal or foe? In F1 spiel, it’s extra typically the latter. And as Hamilton will know from his torrid qualifying report towards final yr (5-19), the stopwatch doesn’t lie.
But because the fabled Italian outfit unleashed Hamilton to the ready world this week – first in , adopted by a take a look at run of their 2025 automobile – each drivers are conserving face for now: courteous smiles, heat handshakes and the proper flip of phrase, within the face of a 24-race storm to come back.
One factor is for certain: if Ferrari’s SF-25 automobile (steered by each drivers on Wednesday) is able to successful races, it will likely be hammer and tong between these two nice opponents over the following 9 months.
“The fervour right here [at Ferrari] is like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Hamilton mentioned, on Wednesday. “They have completely each ingredient wanted to win a world championship.
“The competitors is fierce and it will be shut on the high however with the vitality that I’m receiving from the crew, there’s magic right here.
“For me, I’m not excited about the quantity eight. I’m pondering like it’s the first for Ferrari and the primary championship that the crew can have gained for a while.”
Hamilton and Leclerc share extra in widespread than you would possibly initially suppose, for a duo 13 years, 97 victories and 7 championships aside.
Each have robust pursuits on the planet of music and trend, as an illustration. Each are respectful, cordial characters away from the racetrack. And each are among the many hottest stars within the sport, with Jack Whitehall’s flamboyant introductions to rapturous applause on Tuesday evening an indication of that.
However their strengths behind the wheel of a racing automobile? These days, they’re polar opposites.
Leclerc has lengthy been identified to thrive in qualifying on a Saturday. While the Monegasque solely has eight race wins to his identify, he has 26 pole positions. Coming into his eighth season within the sport, Leclerc has a superior qualifying report to his teammate in all seven earlier campaigns.
His potential to wrestle and journey the bumps and bruises of pushing an F1 automobile to the restrict over one lap led Sky Sports activities pundit Karun Chandhok to inform The Unbiased final yr that Leclerc is the “greatest qualifier in F1.” Higher even than Max Verstappen.
But Leclerc is vulnerable to errors on race day. Indicators of his personal earlier title tilt, in 2022, rapidly pale after unhealthy errors in Imola and Paul-Ricard. The stability of pure tempo and tyre administration, alongside old style race-craft, is just not his greatest asset.
Leclerc’s difficulty this yr is that it’s Hamilton’s most sizeable power. Even after a tough three years of nothingness at Mercedes, Hamilton’s victory at Silverstone final yr was the F1 nice at his mighty greatest.
But Hamilton’s 2024 – his worst-ever season in 18 seasons in F1, by championship place having completed seventh – was overshadowed by a wretched run on Saturdays. A lot so {that a} man who carried self-confidence in abundance started to query his personal expertise.
“I’m simply sluggish,” .
All of this may give a big plate of meals for thought to crew principal Fred Vasseur, tasked with managing the pair this yr. Vasseur has a historical past with each – Leclerc in his rookie yr at Alfa Romeo and Hamilton as a junior when successful GP2 – however is ready to allow them to race from the primary grand prix in below a month’s time.
However how lengthy can it realistically final? Positive, an analogous state of affairs might current itself at McLaren with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. But with Max Verstappen and George Russell (and keep in mind, ) the undisputed No 1 drivers at Purple Bull and Mercedes this yr, is there a threat of Hamilton and Leclerc taking factors off one another?
Can Ferrari afford that, as they eye a primary drivers’ title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007?
That was Hamilton’s rookie yr, wherein he took the struggle straight to two-time world champion Fernando Alonso at race one with a memorable flip one manoeuvre for McLaren. Nico Rosberg can even inform you that no intra-team pal of Hamilton stays amicable for lengthy if they’re striving to outpace the Briton in a title struggle.
A title struggle that Hamilton, he insists, is within the form of his life for: “My decision for the yr was that my life, my mentality, needed to be elevated in completely each space – my health, my time administration, how I interact with my engineers, how a lot time I spend within the manufacturing unit, all these various things.
“I’ve undoubtedly completed that and I’ll proceed to try this, on this attempt for perfection and to attain the success that I’m aiming to attain.
“And if I used to be lucky sufficient to win one other title, which is clearly what we’re getting down to do, I don’t see myself stopping.”
As for Leclerc, he’s determined to win his first world championship; a purpose he has, for some years now, labelled his one important “dream” in F1.
All of it makes for essentially the most fascinating of season openings in Australia on 16 March. But from London to Italy, Hamilton now heads to in Bahrain. That would be the final litmus take a look at: can Ferrari give their drivers the instruments to go for glory on this most open of championship fights?
