Although Ferrari go into the new season with their new driver pairing of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton on level terms, James Hinchcliffe says it cannot stay that way if Ferrari want to win the Drivers’ title.

Hamilton has joined Leclerc at Ferrari for the 2025 Formula 1 championship having parted ways with Mercedes after inking a multi-year deal with the Scuderia even before the first race of 2024.

Equal treatment at Ferrari? James Hinchcliffe weighs in

The 40-year-old replaces Carlos Sainz ahead of what many believe could be the most exciting team-mate battle of 2025 as Hamilton with his seven World titles takes on Leclerc, a Ferrari stalwart and the team’s defacto number one in recent seasons.

Hamilton enters the new season chasing his elusive eighth World title while Leclerc is vying for his first.

Team boss Fred Vasseur believes title glory is within Ferrari’s grasp, confident either Hamilton or Leclerc can beat Max Verstappen to the 2025 Drivers’ crown.

“Yeah,” he told Sky F1 when that question was put to him. “If you have a look at this season [2024], I think Charles scored the biggest number of points after Monza, or something like this when we started to react and started to do a better job on our side.

“It means that everything is possible, it’s just a matter to put everything together to minimise the number of mistakes.

“It’s true that on this season, the long season, 24 events that we have always up and down. But what is positive for us is that we had a tough journey around June, July, and as a team, we were able to react and to react quickly. And this is encouraging.”

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But for Ferrari to mount a title challenge, former IndyCar driver turned pundit Hinchcliffe believes Ferrari will have to back one or the other.

Although the Scuderia will go into the new season promising both title hopefuls equal treatment, the Canadian says sooner or later calls will be made that favour one over the other.

Asked if it was possible for Ferrari to treat their new driver pairing equally, he told The Red Flags podcast: “No, I mean, not to a hundred per cent.

“I believe that they will try their absolute hardest to do that. But that’s not the best way to win a Drivers’ Championship.

“But there’s always going to be a guy that gets to leave pit lane first or second, depending on where you want to be in qualifying. There’s always going to be the guy that has to pit first.

“Like you can never make it a hundred per cent exactly the same.

“Are they going to go as far as not bringing an upgrade to the track if they can only produce one in time? No, of course not. And if there’s a piece that will make a car faster, it will be at the racetrack.

“Who gets it? It doesn’t matter, the cars won’t be even that weekend.”

Pressed on who gets it, he replied: “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Hamilton and Leclerc’s 2025 F1 challenger, ‘Project 677’, will break cover on February 19, a day after Formula 1’s inaugural season launch at London’s The O2.

Ex-F1 designer turned pundit Gary Anderson reckons Leclerc versus Hamilton in the battle to be Ferrari’s number one could be decided at round eight of the championship, the Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton will be chasing a fourth Monaco Grand Prix victory come May while Leclerc will be determined to add to his 2024 success.

“For Charles Leclerc, there won’t be the same family team atmosphere that Sainz brought to Ferrari,” Anderson wrote for The Race. “Yes, they had their battles, but resolved most of them amicably. With Hamilton, a seven-time champion, joining, it could be completely different.

“Ferrari has already backed him to the hilt in paying him way more than Leclerc and I think it will do the same – back Hamilton – for the first part of the season at least, which could rile Leclerc.

“I think Monaco will be the showdown: both are good there but Leclerc is exceptional.”

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