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The eagle-eyed amongst the F1 ‘twitter-sphere’ on Tuesday noticed one thing far too endearing to disregard ahead of F1 75 Live in London. Sat subsequent to one another in smooth black fits, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been already turned off by the preamble in The O2. As such, Leclerc whipped out his cell phone and triggered a sport 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 Ferrari’s long-term golden boy Leclerc will probably be teammates on the prancing horse but, in the identical breath, will carve out each millisecond to beat the opposite.
Is your teammate your buddy or foe? In F1 spiel, it’s extra usually the latter. And as Hamilton will know from his torrid qualifying file towards George Russell 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 London on Tuesday, adopted by a take a look at run of their 2025 automobile in Fiorano on Wednesday – each drivers are protecting 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 for the first time on Wednesday) is able to successful races, will probably be hammer and tong between these two nice rivals over the subsequent 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 prime however with the vitality that I’m receiving from the crew, there’s magic right here.
“For me, I’m not enthusiastic about the quantity eight. I’m considering like it’s the first for Ferrari and the primary championship that the crew may have received for a while.”
Hamilton and Leclerc share extra in frequent than you would possibly initially suppose, for a duo 13 years, 97 victories and 7 championships aside.
Each have sturdy pursuits on the earth of music and style, for example. 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 recognized to thrive in qualifying on a Saturday. While the Monegasque solely has eight race wins to his title, he has 26 pole positions. Coming into his eighth season within the sport, Leclerc has a superior qualifying file to his teammate in all seven earlier campaigns.
His skill to wrestle and trip 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 Impartial final yr that Leclerc is the “greatest qualifier in F1.” Higher even than Max Verstappen.
But Leclerc is susceptible 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 steadiness of pure tempo and tyre administration, alongside old school race-craft, shouldn’t be his greatest asset.
Leclerc’s difficulty this yr is that it’s Hamilton’s most sizeable energy. 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 abilities.
“I’m simply gradual,” he said in December.
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 about to allow them to race from the primary grand prix in beneath a month’s time.
However how lengthy can it realistically final? Positive, the same state of affairs might current itself at McLaren with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. But with Max Verstappen and George Russell (and bear in mind, they definitely don’t get on) the undisputed No 1 drivers at Purple Bull and Mercedes this yr, is there a danger 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, during which he took the combat straight to two-time world champion Fernando Alonso at race one with a memorable flip one manoeuvre for McLaren. Nico Rosberg may even let you know that no intra-team buddy of Hamilton stays amicable for lengthy if they’re striving to outpace the Briton in a title combat.
A title combat 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 have interaction with my engineers, how a lot time I spend within the manufacturing unit, all these various things.
“I’ve positively executed that and I’ll proceed to do 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 objective he has, for some years now, labelled his one predominant “dream” in F1.
All of it makes for probably the most fascinating of season openings in Australia on 16 March. But from London to Italy, Hamilton now heads to next week’s pre-season test 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?
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