Former Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has tipped Lewis Hamilton to struggle against Charles Leclerc at Ferrari in the coming seasons, saying “it won’t be easy” for the outgoing Mercedes driver.
Hamilton will join Leclerc in Maranello in 2025, after a rollercoaster final campaign with Mercedes.
The seven-time champion enjoyed a return to winning ways at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps in the Summer but has been largely out-qualified and out-raced by team-mate George Russell this season.
Leclerc meanwhile, has had one of his strongest seasons to date at Ferrari, taking superb victories at Monaco, Monza and the Circuit of the Americas with a team he has called home for half a decade.
“I don’t think it will be easy for Lewis,” Ecclestone told the Daily Mail.
“Especially [at Ferrari]. They will back Charles Leclerc. He’s quick and has grown up there, they won’t dump him for anyone.
“However, from Lewis’ point of view, it may not have been a mistake to join Ferrari.
“He couldn’t exist any longer at Mercedes. Either he’s given up with them or they have given up on him.
“They wouldn’t do much to keep him, so he is better off going.”
It’s true that Hamilton has endured a torrid second half of the campaign with Mercedes, the team that has elevated him to F1’s chief record-maker.
Still, during a dismal Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend, Hamilton described the Mercedes W15 as the “worst” car he’d ever driven and a cryptic post-race radio message prompted the team to clarify he will see out the end of a disappointing campaign.
Even Mercedes Principal Toto Wolff has admitted that Hamilton’s move to Ferrari “helps us because it avoids the moment where we need to tell the sport’s most iconic driver that we want to stop.”
Lewis Hamilton would take a financial risk backing out of Ferrari challenge
Such is the downward ebb Hamilton has spiralled through lately, Ecclestone was prompted by the Daily Mail to comment on whether the seven-time world champion should hang up his racing gloves before moving to Maranello.
“He would have to walk away from a lot financially, it is a big deal he has got, though I suspect the bonus clauses written into his contract are there to make him feel good rather than reality,” Ecclestone said.
“For John Elkann, the guy who runs it, it was a big ego thing. He thought he had captured the best guy the world had ever seen.
“If Lewis is fading, which I don’t like to see, he should go away and do something else, and do a good job at it.”
The notion of Hamilton quitting F1 before moving toward Ferrari is fanciful at best.
Hamilton’s victories at Silverstone and Spa showed he has what it takes with the right tools at his disposal and he’s moving to a Ferrari team on an upward trajectory.
When asked to comment on the Scuderia’s form, Hamilton responded with a glint in his eye.
“I’m very interested in my future, of course,” Hamilton told media including Motorsport Week.
“And it’s been quite incredible to see the McLaren rise and then the Ferrari in the last few races.”
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