Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur isn’t concerned with the competition between his 2025 Formula 1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
With Hamilton joining Leclerc at Ferrari next season, the Scuderia boasts arguably the strongest driver line-up on the entire F1 grid.
Hamilton’s record speaks for itself, with records matched or broken in Drivers’ titles, race wins, pole positions, podiums and more.
Leclerc, meanwhile, is a prolific qualifier and potent racer coming off one of his best seasons to date having won three Grands Prix at Monaco, Monza and the Circuit of the Americas.
With two gladiators of F1 set to duke it out for the prancing horse, conflict could occur if Leclerc and Hamilton find themselves on an equal footing out on track.
However, speaking at a Christmas media lunch, Vasseur batted away any concerns.
“Charles, Lewis, I am not particularly worried about this,” Vasseur said (via BBC Sport).
“They have a huge mutual respect, they know each other, they have been talking about this for months now.
“It is much better to fight for first and third or second and third than to fight for 19th and 20th.
It is a good issue for a team to have this kind of discussion and approach and I am really convinced again that the performance of the team is coming from the emulation between the two.”
Indeed, Leclerc and outgoing team-mate Carlos Sainz had several on-track spats during their four seasons as team-mates, but both were able to manage the situations respectfully and swiftly.
Hamilton has had two blockbuster, tension-ridden team-mate pairings in his career.
The first came in 2007, his rookie season when he squared up against the reigning two-time champion Fernando Alonso.
Sparks flew and Alonso left McLaren to return to Renault as tensions got too high.
Then Hamilton’s relationship with Nico Rosberg detonated as the duo fought for titles at Mercedes from 2014 through 2016 with the latter retiring when he finally got the upper hand.
Vasseur ‘not worried’ about Hamilton’s 2024 form
Hamilton endured a rollercoaster final campaign with Mercedes.
There were highs such as breaking his victory drought with a record win at his home GP at Silverstone and lows such as wanting to quit the Qatar GP early.
Moreover, a thorough 19 to five thrashing in qualifying from team-mate George Russell led he all-time record pole sitter to claim in one instance that he was “definitely not fast any more.”
In addition, a dire race weekend at Interlagos had people questioning whether Hamilton was going to call it quits early in 2024 following a cryptic radio message.
Vasseur isn’t bothered about this however, understanding that the final year with Mercedes had an impact on Hamilton’s results.
Hamilton himself likened it to the ending of a “relationship,” calling 2024 “a really turbulent year, probably the longest year of my life.”
Still drives in Vegas from 10th to second and in Abu Dhabi from 16th to fourth showed Vasseur that Hamilton is up to the task.
“I am really convinced, and I don’t want to blame Lewis or Mercedes, that this situation is not easy to manage and I can understand if it is not going well you can suffer in this relationship,” Vasseur said.
“He was not very well in his mind and he was clear about this in Brazil but he also did very well on the last couple of events and I am not worried at all.”
Hamilton will need to rely on his race pace against Leclerc, who demonstrated via his one-stop Monza win he is amongst the very best on a Sunday.
In qualifying, however, Leclerc’s record of 26 pole positions should be concerning to Hamilton as he is in desperate need of rediscovering his one-lap form.
READ MORE – Charles Leclerc ‘super curious’ to go up against Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari
