Charles Leclerc believes Lewis Hamilton is joining Ferrari at the perfect time because of where the team is in its journey towards winning a Formula 1 world championship.
Ferrari finished a close second to McLaren in last year’s constructors’ championship, while Leclerc himself scored the most points of any driver after last year’s summer break. With Hamilton arriving from Mercedes to great fanfare, his new teammate believes Ferrari was ready for such an addition thanks to the way team principal Fred Vasseur has got the Scuderia working.
“I think Lewis is coming into the team at the right time,” Leclerc said. “I think Fred is a guy that has a very big strength of keeping the emotional level of the team at a very good level, and we’ve been so much more solid on that in the last years.
“Obviously the fact that Lewis has joined the team has been a big boost and has been amazing in so many ways. But I feel like the team is very, very calm and very clear in what is the direction to work in and not getting too affected by everything that is going on around the team, and that is extremely important and that’s great to see.”
Speaking after driving the SF-25 for the first time at the Fiorano test track on Wednesday, Leclerc says he expected the increase in scrutiny at Ferrari this year but it isn’t having an impact on his or the team’s preparations.
“I haven’t been surprised,” he said. “I think Ferrari has always had a lot of attention around the team. And of course, this year, it’s even bigger because Lewis is joining the team and he’s obviously a legend of the sport, so it’s normal that there’s even more attention than there normally is. But let’s say that the normal standard is already quite high.
“Now with Lewis, everything is kind of exploding and there’s obviously a lot of coverage and a lot of requests and all of this. But it’s part of the job and I think the team in the background is doing a really good job because as a driver, it’s not like I can feel it that much.