F1 champion sends warning to Lewis Hamilton ahead of Ferrari debut
Yesterday at 04:00 AM
Sir Lewis Hamilton must hit the ground running at Ferrari or risk creating a tricky ‘situation’ with teammate Charles Leclerc.
That is the opinion of Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve ahead of the opening race of the 2025 season in Australia this weekend.
After four straight championship wins for Max Verstappen, this year looks set to be one of the most unpredictable in F1’s recent history.
In pre-season testing, McLaren looked the strongest, making Lando Norris the early favourite, but Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes are not far off the pace.
Unsurprisingly, much of the attention over the winter break has been on Hamilton as the seven-time champion completed his move to the Scuderia – uniting the most successful driver and team in the sport’s history.
The 40-year-old looks reenergised at the Italian outfit but Villeneuve has warned him that things could change very quickly if he doesn’t deliver straight away and gets outperformed by his new teammate.
Speaking exclusively to the Metro via YaySweepstakes.com, the 1997 world champion said: ‘Charles has been in there for a while and has been pushed as the future, the big star of Ferrari.
‘They’ve been trying to build his image up as the Ferrari driver and suddenly in comes Lewis, who’s the driver with the biggest profile of all time. He's got all the records and so on and so on and so on and how can you fight that?
‘It’s really, really hard. Because if you look at the whole winter, since the last race, all we hear about is Lewis and Ferrari, Lewis and Ferrari… like Leclerc is completely non-existent.
‘That could all change quickly with a couple of amazing races from Leclerc and some average runs from Lewis. That would build up Leclerc big time which is what they've been trying to do for years.
‘What would that do with Lewis now at Ferrari on the other hand? That would lead to a situation.’
Just a year after making his F1 debut, Leclerc was signed by Ferrari in 2019 and instantly made an impact, outshining four-time champion Sebastian Vettel.
With eight wins and an impressive 26 pole positions, the Monegasque is one of the fastest drivers on the grid and adored by Ferrari and their passionate Tifosi fanbase.
Hamilton has plenty of experience with quick teammates of course, including Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg and George Russell.
In 18 F1 seasons, he’s only failed to beat his teammate on four occasions and Villeneuve does not believe Leclerc will make it five in 2025.
Predicting the top five for this year’s championship, the Canadian tipped Norris to claim his first title ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc and Russell – surprisingly snubbing the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
‘The Norris-Piastri dynamic is already in place. There's nothing to be changed there,’ the former Williams driver added.
‘The difference is they get to the first race knowing they could both have a shot at the Championship. Last year they didn’t think they had that chance.
‘We’ll see from the first race. It could be that they [McLaren] already know how to approach it on who to put the hammer down on.’
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