Romain Grosjean, the former Haas driver, believes Charles Leclerc may receive “number-one treatment” over team-mate Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari in F1 2025.

The F1 2025 season marks Leclerc’s seventh full season as a Ferrari driver, having joined the Italian team at the beginning of 2019 after his debut campaign with Sauber.

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Hamilton, meanwhile, arrives after 12 seasons with Mercedes, where he cemented his status as the most decorated driver in history.

The seven-time World Champion’s move to Ferrari marks only the second team switch of his illustrious career, with his only previous team move occurring in 2013 when he swapped McLaren for Mercedes.

Appearing on the F1 Nation podcast, Grosjean claimed that Leclerc’s experience with the team should give him a clear advantage over his 40-year-old team-mate this season.

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Yet he is backing Hamilton to get up to speed relatively soon, suggesting the influence of Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur will be crucial to the driver’s adaptation.

He said: “It’s a tough choice. You have Charles Leclerc who has won Monaco and Monza for Ferrari and is their driver since forever.

“And then you have Lewis Hamilton who is probably one of the biggest names of the sport and the biggest champion ever.

“How do you deal with those two guys being in the same team?

“My guess would be, year one, maybe Charles gets at least at the start, number-one treatment because he knows the car very well, he’s probably the one that knows the team better.

“But if things are going that Lewis starts being the lead driver, they would need to choose. To beat [the other teams] you need eventually to choose who’s going to be your lead driver and who’s going to go for the championship.

“He’s one of the most talented drivers. He knows how to drive a car, doesn’t matter the colour, doesn’t matter the steering wheel shape. He’s going to be fast.

“It’s going to take some time understanding the language with your engineer, understanding what the car needs to be fast, what’s the philosophy behind it.

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“I was very lucky, I drove the Mercedes engine as well as the Ferrari engine.

“They are 100 per cent different, almost the opposite, but they both have a very good way of doing it.

“Where Lewis has a great help is with Fred Vasseur who he knows very well from the past.

“For Lewis, having that comfort and that support, knowing that there’s someone that you know and you trust and can rely on is going to make things easier.

“I’m not saying he’s not going to win Melbourne because Ferrari is always strong in Melbourne, but I’m saying it can take a little bit of time to get adapted.

“Sometimes it goes very smooth, everything works really well. Sometimes it takes a little bit more work.”

Leclerc will start Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, one place ahead of Hamilton, having outpaced his team-mate by around 0.2 seconds in qualifying.

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