Charles Leclerc may be “spinning” over Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari, but Davide Valsecchi has urged him to capitalise on the moment as he’s no longer under the immense pressure of being the “predestined”.

Having carried the weight of Ferrari’s expectations the last four years, one could even argue five, Leclerc is no longer front and centre at Ferrari. Not because of his performances, but because of his new team-mate.

Is Charles Leclerc no longer Mr.Ferrari?

The Monegasque driver has a new team-mate this season after seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton swapped Mercedes for Ferrari.

It’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest, storylines of the F1 2025 championship as the sport’s most successful driver ever has joined its most successful team. And he’s done so with an eye on breaking Formula 1’s biggest record, the one for the most World titles.

Hamilton is tied with Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher on seven after the Briton lost the title to Max Verstappen in 2021, the first year of the Dutchman’s four-season charge.

F1 2025 head-to-head stats

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Hamilton wants it back and Ferrari want a first World title in almost two decades as their last Drivers’ success came back in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen.

But while the spotlight has been shining brightly on Hamilton, Ferrari documenting everything from his first visit to Enzo Ferrari’s iconic red-doored house to his first official visit to the factory and, of course, his first laps in a Ferrari F1 car, Leclerc has remained in the background.

That though, is not necessarily a bad thing if you ask former F1 driver Valsecchi.

“He will be spinning, there has only been talk of Lewis, his passion for pizza or Gianni Agnelli-style jackets,” he told Corrierre dello Sport.

“But this way Charles has less pressure, he is no longer the predestined. And then in the second half of last season he had a consistency that he had never shown.”

Consistency that has put him ahead of Hamilton on Valsecchi’s list of potential F1 2025 World Champions.

“If I have to bet, I’d say Norris, Leclerc, Verstappen and Hamilton,” he said.

Valsecchi is not the first to surmise that Leclerc is enjoying having the spotlight turned away from him, Martin Brundle saying the same in the build-up to the new season.

“Apparently he’s loving it because all of the attention is on Lewis instead of him and the pressure is on him and what he’s got to do,” he told Sky F1’s ‘The F1 Show’.

“He’ll learn from Lewis and I think Charles is very mature, his ego is parked. He’ll be very happy for all of the spotlight to be across the garage so he can get on with his job.”

Asked about that and losing the ‘Mr.Ferrari’ tag to the Briton, Leclerc made it clear that he feels no pressure to keep the Ferrari light on himself.

“No, because there’s no place for one particular driver in Ferrari,” he said. “I mean, Ferrari is bigger than any drivers, and I think that’s always been the case in Ferrari. That’s what makes Ferrari so special.

“There’s support for the team and not for one specific driver. So I don’t think that’s the case.

“Obviously, Lewis is coming in the team as a legend of the sport and so there’s a lot more attention on him than there’s for me at the moment, but I’m completely fine with it. I completely understand that, and it’s normal that it’s that way, so it’s fine for me.

“But I don’t think there’s a competition on who needs to be the driver for Ferrari. And there won’t ever be that.”

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