Charles Leclerc told he needs to make one unusual change if he wants to match Lewis Hamilton this season

Charles Leclerc will face one of the toughest matchups in his Formula 1 career in 2025 when he goes up against Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari.

Both drivers have been settling into their time at the Maranello squad over the last few weeks, with Hamilton completing his first tests with the team at Fiorano and Barcelona.

Around 3,000 adoring Tifosi fans reportedly turned up to watch him drive his first laps behind the wheel of a Ferrari, with the Maranello mayor having to declare a ‘state of emergency’ because of the increased activity.

Despite a setback when Hamilton crashed at the second test, which also impacted Leclerc’s running, he has largely enjoyed his period getting up to speed with everything and playing to the fanfare around his arrival.

There is a lot of anticipation over how Leclerc will fare against Hamilton and vice versa, however, former F1 driver Jan Lammers thinks the Monogasque will need to do something unconventional if he wants to beat the seven-time world champion this year when speaking to RacingNews365.nl.

Charles Leclerc told he must ‘relax’ if he wants to beat Lewis Hamilton

Leclerc is known for often making unforced errors out on track, having crashed on occasions when the pressure has got high.

Eddie Jordan has urged Leclerc to ‘get on his bike’ early in the season and show a degree of dominance, while Lammers thinks the Monogasque needs to be much calmer to avoid making mistakes.

“They both [Hamilton and Leclerc] have the skills, but maybe Leclerc needs to relax a bit on the one hand. He sometimes goes too fast, and because of that, there is a mistake here and there,” said Lammers.

“But I hope he can shake off. In this year, if he continues to do that too often, it’s just a part of him and he can’t deal with it.”

Pirelli chiefs impressed by Charles Leclerc

Leclerc and Hamilton recently completed tests for Pirelli aimed at trying out their 2026 tyres, which will be lighter and slightly narrower in a bid to reduce the overall weight of the cars.

He managed to set a quicker time than Hamilton by over a second, although the times were largely meaningless as the drivers were on different run plans designed to test the tyres.

Pirelli chiefs were already impressed by Leclerc because of his overtake at the start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year, in which he overtook 11 cars on the opening lap.

Leclerc will be hopeful that Ferrari has a car that can challenge for race wins and titles, as the team heads into a season with arguably one of the strongest driver lineups since Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.