At the beginning of the F1 2024 season, Lewis Hamilton dropped a bomb by announcing his move to Ferrari in 2025 to form a partnership with the sport’s historically most successful team as the most decorated driver with 105 victories.

The seven-time world champion decided to leave Mercedes after 12 years and 6 titles together to partner Charles Leclerc in the Italian team next season by replacing Carlos Sainz, who will switch to Williams.

Leclerc, has been racing for Ferrari since 2019 and has scored 7 grand prix victories for the team, including two special ones this season—one at his home track in Monaco, making his childhood dream a reality and the other one in Monza, in front of the Tifosi crowd.

The Monegasque praised Hamilton as a driver and expressed that having someone like the Brit on the team serves as motivation in various ways.

“I will be super curious to see what he has done right for all his career to have had all the success that he’s had,” he told The Race.

“He has very little weaknesses – well actually, I don’t know any weaknesses of Lewis. He’s a super strong driver, always there, super fast, super consistent.

“It will be super interesting for me to learn from Lewis, as much as showing what I am capable of in the same car as Lewis. These two things motivate me a lot.”

Leclerc, who joined four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari in 2019 in a great teammate partnership with lots of respect between the drivers, explained that he won’t be worried about Hamilton as a teammate.

While some drivers would expect the team to be built around them, the Monegasque believes he performs better with internal competition.

“Since I got into Formula 1, I have been very lucky,” he acknowledged.

“Instead of thinking that I wish I had a number two driver as a team-mate, I have always thought it is so much better to have the best as your team-mate.

“I have had very, very fast team-mates who have pushed me forward and with Lewis I will learn a lot as well.”

Heading into the last six races of 2024, with the next race set to be the United States Grand Prix in less than 3 weeks, Charles Leclerc stands third in the Driver’s Championship, trailing second Lando Norris by 34 points—the same margin Ferrari is losing to catch second Red Bull in the Constructor’s Championship.