Hamilton opens up on developing relationship with ‘massively talented’ Leclerc

Lewis Hamilton has given an insight into how his relationship with new team mate Charles Leclerc is developing, with the seven-time World Champion admitting that he is keen to learn from the Monegasque as he continues to settle in at the Scuderia.

Since officially arriving at the Italian outfit in January, Hamilton has been getting adjusted to his new environment and during this process has spent a lot of time alongside Leclerc, whether at the F1 75 Live season launch event or during pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Reflecting on how he has so far found the experience of working with Leclerc – who has raced for the team since 2019, as well as previously being a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy prior to that – Hamilton spoke positively about the 27-year-old’s abilities and how the two are getting along.

“Charles is massively talented,” the Briton explained while speaking to media during the test days at the Bahrain International Circuit. “Getting to see him work opposite the table and watching him in the garage, it’s been really, really great.

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 18: Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Scuderia Ferrari waves to the crowd as — Hamilton and Leclerc – alongside team boss Fred Vasseur – revealed Ferrari’s 2025 livery at the F1 75 Live event

“Obviously he’s been here for a long time, so he knows the team well, he speaks Italian, he’s at home and at ease. But because we already had a friendship before, that’s made it a lot easier to just get straight into working together.

“He’s incredibly talented, so he’s going to be so fast this year. I’m looking forward to learning what I can from him and supporting him alongside the team to the deliver the best results we can get.”

As well as getting to know Leclerc as a team mate, Hamilton has been adapting to various aspects of life at Ferrari, with the key task during testing being the process of getting used to his new car.

Asked at what stage of learning he is currently at with the SF-25 – and when he expects to have it under control – the 40-year-old responded: “I don’t have a crystal ball. All I can say is we’re just taking it one day at a time. We’re really, really just focused on doing our job, we’re not watching everything else that’s happening.

Lewis Hamilton’s first reflections of his Ferrari testing debut

“We’re literally just trying to make sure that we’re learning our processes in the car. With every lap and every session that I get, I’m learning more about the car, getting more and more comfortable with the completely different control systems that we have.

“I’m still in the learning phase of understanding the rear suspension, the front suspension, all the different settings that they have for those, and the terminology that they use for them as well. My engineer and I are also learning how we both like to work, in terms of communication.

“After every session, every time I go out basically, we come back in and we’re making adjustments to the information I give him and vice versa. I think it’s on plan. We couldn’t be further ahead with the short space of time that we’ve had.

“I’ve been really looking into the previous great drivers that came along, such as Sebastian [Vettel] and Fernando [Alonso], who started much earlier than me, in November, for example, so we’ve done a lot in that small period of time that we’ve had. I think it’s been great and really well reciprocated on both sides.”