F1's toughest team-mate: Is Leclerc ready for Hamilton fight?

Hamilton’s relationships with team-mates have ebbed and flowed. Some pairings, such as with Heikki Kovalainen and Valtteri Bottas, have been cordial because neither driver ever posed a threat to his dominance.

At other times, the Brit hasn’t risen to the bait when he feels not much is on the table. If he’s not fighting for a championship, then why fully exert himself? This has been evidenced in relatively calm partnerships with Jenson Button and George Russell.

This is a trait he shares with Leclerc. Like Hamilton and the above drivers, you feel Leclerc was never really troubled by Sebastian Vettel or Sainz, and that were they fighting for a title, he’d have their measure.

Other Hamilton relationships though, with Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg, have been venomous from early on.

If Hamilton has to fight tough, he will – and Leclerc should be very wary. This was proved in the Brit’s very first F1 season, when the young rookie went toe-to-toe with his first team-mate at McLaren in Alonso.

The Spaniard was, and still is, F1’s most intense personality – and has a fairly fragile ego to go with it.

Hamilton is the only team-mate he’s had who’s possessed the ability to show complete disregard for Alonso’s intimidating aura, simply throwing it back in his face.

It was shown by the rookie driving right round the outside of the then-reigning champ on the first corner of his debut at Melbourne in 2007.

Hamilton was then furious when he was blocked from attacking Alonso for the win at Monaco a few races later, and the two battled hard at Indianapolis.

Things came to a head that year at Hungary when Alonso stopped in the McLaren pit box and blocked Hamilton from changing tyres during qualifying – inciting the ire of team boss Ron Dennis.

The squabbling eventually led to both drivers losing out on the title to Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen, but it was Alonso who left the team in a fit of pique, feeling Hamilton had pulled McLaren around him.

Hamilton’s relationship with friend-turned-foe Nico Rosberg at Mercedes showed the full range of the former’s approach to racing colleagues.

In 2013, when the team was going through a building year for the engine regulation changes the next season, all was fair between the two with only the occasional race win at stake.

While it’s possible an older and wiser Hamilton wouldn’t react how he did in years gone by with Alonso and Rosberg, he will still race with the same intensity – it’s something he hasn’t lost.

As history has shown, when real F1 glory is offered up, Leclerc can be as ruthless as anyone too.

He ignored Ferrari’s instruction to give team-mate Sebastian Vettel a tow when qualifying for the 2019 Italian GP, and took pole for himself instead. The pair clashed at Brazil in 2019 and in Austria during 2020 also.

In the first part of 2022, when Ferrari’s car was the class of the field, Leclerc was the dominant driver, not Sainz. This would likely have carried on had the car remained competitive.

However, the Monegasque has developed more of a ‘nice guy’ personality in recent years, apparently trained as a good pet driver, a nice team player, by the Scuderia, similar to Lando Norris at McLaren.

The 2024 Ferrari is competitive, and its 2025 car could be a platform for both drivers to be world championship contenders.

Will Leclerc’s racing instinct overcome his Ferrari team player ethics? Will the 2025-spec Hamilton prove more measured than his previous guises?

It could be Ferrari fireworks next season, or all-calm at Maranello. Only time will tell.