Charles Leclerc has disclosed that he has warned Lewis Hamilton that being a Ferrari driver in Formula 1 during the week of the Italian Grand Prix will be “quite tiring”.
Hamilton is gearing up to embark on his first race weekend at Monza – where he has bagged a record-equalling five victories – since leaving Mercedes to go to Ferrari.
The Briton expressed that the ardent passion surrounding the Italian brand is “unique” as he and Leclerc spent Wednesday evening at an annual Ferrari event in Milan.
But while he’s revelling in the occasion that comes with wearing red on Italian soil, Leclerc has alerted his team-mate about how exhausting the week can prove to be.
“I definitely told Lewis that it’s quite a tiring week,” Leclerc told media including Motorsport Week.
“But the good thing is that you don’t feel tired at all throughout the week. You just feel particularly tired on the Sunday night when everything is gone.
“But before that, there’s so much positive energy around us that you only take that as a positive.
“And you’re always super motivated to get back on track and to just, yeah, live the moment. I mean, it’s just such a special weekend for us as Ferrari drivers.
“I don’t feel tired at all for now. But I know that coming Sunday night, you kind of don’t realise how tired you are until you actually finish the race. But it’s a nice feeling.”
Why Monza is so special to Ferrari and Leclerc
Leclerc enters the weekend bidding to replicate the win he secured 12 months ago, adding to the success that he achieved in his debut Italian GP with Ferrari in 2019.
The Monegasque, who has been embedded in the Maranello-based squad’s ranks since 2016, revealed the sensation he gets when returning to Monza never gets old.
“It definitely feels as special as the first time,” he added.
“I don’t think you’ll ever get used to it because I think as humans, we tend to forget very quickly what a particular feeling you got in a certain moment.
“And you feel very special as a Ferrari driver wherever we go because we have a lot of support. But whenever you come to Monza, it’s just different.
“And especially the fact that we have Milan very, very close. It’s one of the only races of the year where we do such a big event in a city centre.
“And the amount of support we get here is just unbelievable. So it was extremely special.”
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