Ferrari have three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain to determine whether they’ve built a car capable of winning both titles this year after narrowly missing out on the constructors’ championship in 2024.
Charles Leclerc put in an immense performance to finish on the podium alongside Carlos Sainz at the final race of last season in Abu Dhabi, but it wasn’t enough to stop McLaren from winning their first constructors’ championship this century.
Ferrari will hope that the signing of Lewis Hamilton helps the team go one better but ultimately, it will come down to whether their car is competitive enough to leapfrog McLaren and see off the updated Red Bull and Mercedes machines.
If team principal Frederic Vasseur has overseen the development of the fastest car on the grid, he then faces another challenge.
Both Leclerc and Hamilton will be desperate to win the championship in 2025 and Ferrari won’t want to select a favourite driver unless they absolutely have to.
Ferrari’s top brass want Hamilton to be the number one driver after spending a fortune to secure his signature, but it’s unlikely to be as simple as that.
Leclerc has an advantage over Hamilton due to his previous time with the team and understanding of how Ferrari’s power unit behaves as well as other small differences between the Prancing Horse’s car and Mercedes’ recent machines.
Ralf Schumacher, reflecting on pre-season testing on a live broadcast for Sky Germany, has explained another disadvantage that he’s spotted for Hamilton against the Monegasque driver.
Ferrari may be able to develop the car to help him, but whatever changes they make will also benefit Leclerc.
Ralf Schumacher says Lewis Hamilton ‘can’t cope’ with nervous rear end
Talking about the first day of testing and the two Ferrari drivers, Schumacher said: “If everything goes normally, Leclerc should actually have Hamilton under control
“[Leclerc is] particularly strong in qualifying, he knows the car and should be there from the start.
“Hamilton is heading towards 40. He is certainly still super-fast, but Leclerc should have him under control.
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“Otherwise, this myth of the next world champion is a bit over. You just have to tell it like it is.
“Hamilton is clever enough to wait and see if the car goes his way. Hamilton can’t cope with a nervous rear end, but Leclerc can. We’ll see in which direction Ferrari develops.
“That will be the deciding factor as to which of the two can achieve the best performance with this car.”
Lewis Hamilton’s interesting body language during first weeks at Ferrari
Schumacher has always had some interesting views on the seven-time world champion during his time in F1.
Michael Schumacher is levels above Hamilton according to the German legend’s brother and it will be interesting to see if he still believes that if the 40-year-old wins his eighth title this year.
Hamilton’s body language suggests he’s delighted to be at Ferrari and following in Schumacher’s footsteps.
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family
He’ll be even happier if he can replicate his success with the Scuderia but Ferrari won’t have the same advantage this year as they did 20 years ago when Schumacher won five titles on the bounce.
Ralf has his doubts and he’s right to suggest that Leclerc is going to be a difficult foe to defeat.
But Hamilton will know that he’s potentially one season away from fulfilling a lifelong dream of winning a championship with the sport’s most recognisable team.
