Charles Leclerc told what to do to benefit from Lewis Hamilton

Charles Leclerc has been advised to be “really smart” and play the “team game” with new Ferrari F1 teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton arrives at Ferrari after completing a bombshell switch from F1 rivals Mercedes, and has replaced Carlos Sainz at the Scuderia for 2025.

And according to former grand prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya, Leclerc should be looking to learn as much as possible from his hugely experienced new teammate and F1’s most successful driver of all time.

“If Charles can play the game really smart, the team game, and understands that there's a lot to learn from Lewis, that’ll serve him well,” Montoya told OnlineCassino.com.br.

"It’ll be hard because Charles is a very complete driver. So, it's really hard to tell Charles that he has someone as a teammate who is going to teach him a lot.

“That's going to be really hard to swallow. If he can understand and respect that, he should just be nice and play along with things and say, ‘Let's develop the car, let's develop Ferrari to be world champion again.’

“I think it can be a big benefit because at the end of the day, if he's there or thereabouts all year long, then he's going to be in a shot to be winning races.

“If Lewis has a bad race, Charles can win the race. But if Lewis wins, he's going to be second and he's going to be there and he's going to be adding the points. And maybe at the end of the year, Ferrari goes, how about it?”

Hamilton hungry for Ferrari title

After narrowly missing out on a first constructors’ championship title since 2008 last year to McLaren, Montoya reckons Ferrari will be a force to be reckoned with this season.

He also believes Hamilton is incredibly motivated to win what would be a record-breaking eighth F1 world title with Ferrari.

“When anyone moves teams like Lewis, you’re always going to say that you're happier and feel more comfortable than you were before.  That’s the standard corporate line,” Montoya continued.

“But I really do believe he wants to do it. I think he wants it really bad. He really wants to win. That's going to go a long way. It's hard to say what's going to happen, how good Ferrari is going to be. But you look at the car at the end of the year, it was the closest car to the McLaren.

“So being the closest car to the McLaren, you're not far off. I think the big thing is going to be the interaction with Charles and how all that develops.

“That's the biggest thing in my opinion; how well are they going to work together and whether Ferrari is going to do a good job managing them. It is in their interest though to focus everything on Lewis. I think they will.

“Publicly, they're going to say it's equal and will let them race. But Mercedes was always equal! And this year, George started beating Lewis for the first time after Lewis said he was leaving.”