Charles Leclerc labelled as “too nice” as concerns raised ahead of Lewis Hamilton arrival

Former F1 driver Robert Doornbos believes Charles Leclerc is “too nice” to become a world champion.

Leclerc will team up with seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari from 2025.

While he is widely-regarded as the fastest driver in F1, Leclerc has won just five races during his stint with Ferrari.

Leclerc has generally had the edge over teammate Carlos Sainz, but the latter has taken Ferrari’s two most recent victories.

The Monegasque was on the end of Sainz’s stern defence in the China sprint race.

Sainz ran Leclerc wide at the hairpin as the pair went side-by-side, losing crucial ground to the Red Bull of Sergio Perez.

With Hamilton likely to pose a tougher challenge internally, concerns about how “nice” Leclerc is has been raised.

Doornbos, who raced for Red Bull briefly in 2006 - is unsure whether Leclerc is as ruthless as Hamilton or Max Verstappen.

“Leclerc is too nice to be World Champion,” he told Ziggo Sport. “A Hamilton or a Verstappen, that is not possible with Leclerc.

“Suppose Ferrari gets the best car next year, then Hamilton will eat [him].

“Leclerc doesn’t seem harsh to me when I look at the mistakes he makes and how he is with his engineers.”

2016 F1 world champion Nico Rosberg also raised a similar point on how likely there is going to be friction between Leclerc and Hamilton at Ferrari.

Rosberg famously fell out with Hamilton during their various title battles, with the German deploying all sorts of tactics to try and get the upper hand.

He said on Sky’s F1 broadcast: “We’re all looking forward to that dynamic. Charles doesn’t seem like someone who goes into conflict too much with his tea-mates, that will make it easier.

“From that point of view, maybe it won’t be too extremely spicy.

“But, nevertheless, I mean, Charles is probably the second-best qualifier out there after Max Verstappen, one could possibly say at the moment.

“So, it’s going to be a tough, tough battle for both really and I think the level could be pretty similar, so it would be great to watch.”