Lewis Hamilton is mere days away from making his Ferrari debut at the Australian Grand Prix, but Fred Vasseur is keen to prevent one issue in his first season in red.
The Scuderia have celebrated every moment since the seven-time drivers’ champion arrived from Mercedes to form arguably the strongest line-up on the 2025 Formula 1 grid. Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are two of the best qualifiers and also exceptional racers in the right car.
Hamilton seldom had the right car during his final year at Mercedes last term, yet was still a two-time Grand Prix winner last season. The 40-year-old also enjoyed a drive for the ages in Las Vegas after Hamilton’s record ninth British Grand Prix win plus a fifth Belgian GP victory.
Leclerc, meanwhile, bagged Ferrari three wins in 2024 to secure third place in the F1 drivers’ championship on 356 points to Hamilton in P7 on 223. The 27-year-old made the top step of the Italian and United States Grands Prix podiums after Leclerc, finally, won the Monaco GP.
Fred Vasseur feels Ferrari must ‘be careful’ having Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc fight
Mercedes and Ferrari’s other drivers, George Russell and Carlos Sainz, even posted two wins each last term at the Austrian and Las Vegas Grands Prix plus the Australian and Mexico City Grands Prix respectively. And Vasseur feels Leclerc profited from his competition with Sainz.
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Now, Ferrari team principal Vasseur believes the Scuderia must continue to encourage their two drivers to compete with each other after landing Hamilton to replace Sainz as Leclerc’s teammate. But the Maranello giants must ‘be careful’ to not create undue internal conflict.
Vasseur said, via quotes by Corriere della Sera: “In the last two years we have witnessed a competition between teammates from free practice, to qualifying [and] to the race.
“We have to make sure it is still like this – it is important to make progress. Be careful, I am not talking about fighting, but about competition. The teammate is always the first point of reference.”
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix spat serves as Ferrari’s warning
Vasseur is right to urge caution at Maranello about how much they get Hamilton and Leclerc to battle with each other as Ferrari strive to get the most out of their two drivers in the 2025 Formula 1 season. While he thinks Leclerc benefitted from fighting Sainz, they did also clash.
Mercedes’ one-two with Russell and Hamilton at the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix was not the only talking point in Sin City. Sainz went against Ferrari’s orders fighting Leclerc in Las Vegas as the Spaniard stole the final podium position after being told not to pass the Monegasque.
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| Category | Carlos Sainz | Charles Leclerc |
| 2024 points | 290 | 356 |
| Grand Prix results | 9 | 14 |
| Grand Prix qualifying | 9 | 14 |
| Grand Prix wins | 2 | 3 |
| Grand Prix poles | 1 | 3 |
| Grand Prix podiums | 9 | 13 |
| Best finish | 1st | 1st |
| Retirements | 2 | 1 |
| Retirements (classified finish) | 1 | 0 |
| Withdrawn | 1 | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 1 | 3 |
| Grand Prix points finishes | 20 | 21 |
| Sprint results | 3 | 3 |
| Sprint Qualifying | 3 | 3 |
| Sprint wins | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint poles | 0 | 0 |
| Sprint podiums | 1 | 2 |
Sainz stealing third place in the closing laps in Sin City left Leclerc incensed, with the eight-time Grand Prix winner (all with the Scuderia) venting over Ferrari’s radio how ‘I did my job’ yet lost out after ‘being nice’. He added: “It’s not even being nice, it’s just being respectful.”
While Sainz did not owe Ferrari anything in Las Vegas having been told before the 2024 term started that Hamilton was taking his drive in 2025, Vasseur will be desperate to avoid similar incidents between the Briton and Leclerc with them under contract through 2026 and 2029.
