Charles Leclerc was ‘shocked and disappointed’ after discovering Lewis Hamilton will be his Ferrari team-mate in 2025… with Brit’s £40m deal confirmed just a week after his own extension
- Hamilton’s £40 million move to Ferrari was confirmed last week
- Leclerc signed a multi-year extension a week before the deal was announced
- The Monegasque faces a huge challenge to maintain his number 1 position within the team
Charles Leclerc was reportedly ‘shocked and disappointed’ when he discovered that Lewis Hamilton would be his Ferrari teammate for the 2025 season.
Hamilton’s £40 million move from Mercedes was announced last week, with the seven-time world champion set to spend the remainder of his Formula 1 career with the sport’s most famous team.
The news came just a week after Ferrari announced that Leclerc had signed a multi-year extension with the Scuderia – with Hamilton replacing his current teammate Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc is regarded as one of the fastest drivers on the grid and has been the benchmark of all his teammates since moving to F1 in 2018.
However, the company of perhaps the greatest driver of his generation poses an enormous challenge for the 26-year-old Corriere dello Sport claim that Leclerc and his entourage were not happy when they heard the news.
Lewis Hamilton will become Charles Leclerc’s teammate at Ferrari for the 2025 season
Leclerc was reportedly ‘shocked and disappointed’ when he heard about Hamilton’s arrival
Leclerc ‘had no idea’ Hamilton would join the team when his Ferrari extension was revealed a week earlier
The Italian publication reports that he was ‘shocked and disappointed’ by Ferrari’s decision and that he had ‘no idea what was going to happen’.
This is despite the fact that the Monegasque driver hinted that Hamilton would become his Ferrari teammate last season.
Leclerc was asked what he ‘looks for in a teammate’ following the world scoop from Mail Sport last May that Ferrari was in talks with Hamilton.
The Monegasque driver laughed at the question before looking at Hamilton and saying: “Hello Lewis.”
The British driver, dressed in Mercedes gear, can then be seen smiling awkwardly.
There were reports of it Marca that Leclerc is relishing the challenge as he will either beat a seven-time world champion or lose to one of the best in history.
Hamilton, who turns 40 next year, has long dreamed of becoming a Ferrari driver.
Hamilton wrote about his departure from Mercedes on social media: ‘After an incredible eleven years with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, the time has come for me to start a new chapter in my life and in 2025 I will join Scuderia Ferrari to work. .
Leclerc hopes for a better Ferrari challenge this season after failing to win a race in 2023
“I feel incredibly lucky, after achieving things with Mercedes that I could only dream of as a child, that I now have the opportunity to fulfill another childhood dream. Driving in Ferrari red.’
Ferrari has not won a drivers’ championship since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, with the Finn and Felipe Massa helping the Scuderia to what is their last constructors’ championship just a year later.
Leclerc will be hoping for an improved Ferrari challenge this season after failing to win a race during the 2023 season.