Even though Lewis Hamilton is a seven-time Formula 1 world champion, he’ll be the first to admit that he can still improve certain aspects of his racing skills and attributes.
It was only a few months ago that Hamilton was begrudging his qualifying performances after making a mistake at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton started 10th that weekend but drove fantastically well to finish second behind Mercedes teammate George Russell.
His race pace was so good that he would have fancied his chances against Russell if he had started closer to the front of the grid.
Hamilton has now started work with Ferrari where he faces a new intra-team battle with Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc hasn’t put together a championship challenge at this stage of his career – although Hamilton was outqualified and outscored by Russell in 2024 who has never finished above fourth in the Drivers’ Championship – so nothing should be read into the Monegasque’s lack of pedigree at the very front of the F1 grid.
He’s got a superb record in qualifying having recorded 26 pole positions in his career already.
And while the 27-year-old has only won eight Grand Prix, Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s dominance has to be factored into that equation as on many occasions he simply didn’t have the race pace to compete with the four-time champion.
Former F1 driver and Dutch pundit Giedo van der Garde was speaking to RacingNews365 about Ferrari’s driver and explained what he thinks they can learn from each other.
Leclerc has already been told what he can learn from Hamilton, but Van Der Garde believes the opposite may also be true despite the Brit entering his 18th Formula 1 season.
Lewis Hamilton can ‘learn a lot’ from Charles Leclerc according to Giedo van der Garde
Talking about the upcoming battle between team principal Frederic Vasseur’s newest driver combination, van der Garde said: “I do think the battle with Leclerc will be exciting.
“Leclerc is obviously incredibly good at qualifying, but I think they can learn a lot from each other.
“Leclerc can obviously do that from Hamilton in the race because once he has a car and he is on pace, he is obviously almost unbeatable.
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“But I think in terms of sharpness and over one lap, Lewis can still learn a lot from Leclerc, so I think they can be complimentary of each other.
“I do think they are the strongest duo in the field because they are two top drivers.”
Lewis Hamilton has to match Charles Leclerc’s qualifying pace to win the 2025 Formula 1 championship
The margins between the top drivers in 2025 are likely to be marginal, with drivers regularly split by hundreds of a second in qualifying last season.
Each of the top teams would have taken inspiration from their rivals over the winter meaning many of their cars are going to look eerily similar when they arrive at the first race of the season in Australia.
Ferrari are not going to initially nominate a number one driver between Hamilton and Leclerc, meaning their strategy will be initially based on track position.
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Given Leclerc is considered F1’s best qualifier, he could have that distinct advantage over his new teammate during the first few races.
If he can learn from Hamilton’s data how to convert those performances into victories, Vasseur will have no choice but to back the Monegasque driver should he enter a championship fight with Verstappen, either McLaren driver or even George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
That will be a bitter pill to swallow for Hamilton, but it’s hard to imagine a driver with more than 100 Grand Prix victories accepting being number two to anyone, especially when he has so much to prove to his new employers.
