Will Leclerc beat Hamilton at Ferrari in 2025?

Lewis Hamilton has finally completed his long Mercedes goodbye, some 10-and-a-half months after his move to Ferrari was announced.

The seven-time F1 drivers’ champion will embark on the next chapter in his storied career alongside Charles Leclerc at the Italian team, after it came tantalisingly close to securing a first championship since its 2008 constructors’ title, the same year Hamilton clinched his maiden drivers’ crown.

With the Monegasque driver, the 39-year-old will be hoping to end that drought, but he will also have an eye on an eighth title of his own.

However, first he must beat Leclerc, a task that likely will not be straightforward, as the past three years of his intra-team battles with George Russell have shown.

Hamilton signed off his racing tenure with Mercedes in emphatic style, passing his team-mate around the outside of Turn 9 at the Yas Marina Circuit on the last lap of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

That overtake meant he outscored Russell on aggregate over their three years together at the Brackley squad, having entered that final race tied on 685 points each.

Nonetheless, the 26-year-old finished higher in the championship this term, as he did as well in 2022.

Central to that has been Hamilton’s inability to maximise qualifying in the contemporary ground effects era, coming short against Russell, a driver who has been nicknamed Mr. Saturday for his one-lap exploits.

Now, as he joins Ferrari, Hamilton will go toe-to-toe with Leclerc, widely considered to be the quickest driver over one lap in F1. But will that meant besting his new team-mate is an insurmountable task?

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