Big things are changing this year at Scuderia Ferrari, with seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton joining longtime Scuderia star Charles Leclerc at the Italian team.

The pressure is on in a lot of ways, but team principal Fred Vasseur is confident that signing an icon like Hamilton will only benefit Leclerc.

Vasseur convinced Lewis Hamilton “would be good” for Leclerc

The most talked about change in the 2025 Formula 1 season is clear: Lewis Hamilton has left Mercedes to join Scuderia Ferrari in the hunt for his eighth World Drivers’ Championship.

For Charles Leclerc, who is entering his seventh year of Formula 1 competition with the Prancing Horse, this could either be seen as a threat to his position, or as a strong opportunity for him to learn.

The interpretation of the driver on that regard would largely depend on the atmosphere in the team, and at the Scuderia, the goal is to have a two-pronged approach to the World Championship.

In fact, if you ask team principal Fred Vasseur, Lewis Hamilton’s signing will only be a boon to his teammate.

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“From the first day I started talking to Lewis I was convinced that it would also be good for Charles by taking some of the pressure off him,” Vasseur told Italian paper Corriere della Sera.

“And then after four years alongside Carlos, the best way to learn was to have a new teammate. Also to see new working methods.”

Vasseur acknowledged that Leclerc has had stiff competition in the form of Carlos Sainz, but that “internal competition” is a “process of emulation” and that “performance comes from comparison.”

Further, the team boss has made it clear that the goal is not to pit the two drivers against one another but to see how both can perform and evolve.

“I hope they win a lot of races,” Vasseur said, “then in the second part of the championship we will understand how we are positioned for the World Championship.”

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