F1 News
Ferrari warned: "Hamilton great like Verstappen, but Leclerc's years go by".
Having spent more than a decade at Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton will now make the long-awaited move to Ferrari in 2025. Most seem to doubt the move by the Briton given his qualifying and his future teammate, Charles Leclerc, being one of the strongest drivers on the grid and having the advantage of already being a consolidated Ferrari driver. Luca di Montezemolo, historic Ferrari President and champion with Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher weighs in on the discussion, speaking to La politica nel pallone on Radio GR Parlamento.
"Hamilton, a phenomenon like Verstappen"
Montezemolo is clear, both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have not been the issue at Ferrari. "In recent years, Ferrari's problem has not been related to the drivers, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc are strong," began the former Ferrari President before speaking about the seven-time world champion's transfer to the scarlet team. "Hamilton is a phenomenon like Verstappen: his arrival in Ferrari is not a marketing operation, he wants to end his career by winning in red."
However, signing Hamilton is not without risk for the Maranello-based team: while he is one of the winningest drivers in the history of F1, Leclerc has been waiting for a chance that is yet to come since 2019. "The choice of Lewis Hamilton, on the one hand, is a risk because you take a champion who has won a lot and who comes to Ferrari to win, and on the other, there is a Leclerc who, despite having good races, has never won and the years go by."
However, it will not all be down to the driver pairing. Montezemolo points out that clarity within the management will be important as well if Ferrari also challenges McLaren next season. "It will be a very interesting year for Ferrari, provided that they manage to bridge the gap with McLaren to start already competitive from the first race, they make a car capable of winning in all conditions, and there is also clarity of management within the team," the Italian concluded.
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