"Back living the dream": Charles Leclerc shares his first post amidst Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari debut

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc expressed his delight after returning behind the wheel of the F1 car for the first time in 2025. The Monegasque driver took the reins of the SF-23 in the afternoon on January 22, after his new teammate Lewis Hamilton had completed his first few laps with the Italian team.

With so much talk surrounding the arrival of the seven-time F1 world champion to Maranello, the 27-year-old has flown under the radar despite finishing the 2024 season strongly and winning three races in a year for only the second time in his career, previously claiming the feat in 2022.

On his social media platform, Instagram, Charles Leclerc posted a series of pictures of his first day at the test track in Fiorano while also giving a subtle nod to Lewis Hamilton in his caption, saying:

"Back living the dream. So good to be driving again and to see all the tifosi at the track. Was a very special day for the team and Lewis as well and was really happy to be there to see it. Can’t wait to get this season started. "

Leclerc finished the 2024 season in P3 and was just 18 points behind McLaren driver Lando Norris in P2 but heading into the new season, he was confident of his chances.

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Charles Leclerc lays down a marker ahead of the 2025 season

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc stated that he was "confident" of his and the Italian team's chances of beating Red Bull in the championship. Speaking with RacingNews365, Leclerc spoke about his title aspirations and said:

“I’m fully confident that the next team to be able to do that and to beat Red Bull, especially, for the championship will be us.”

Charles Leclerc also added that he believed that he had improved ever since his failed title challenge in the first half of the 2022 season against Max Verstappen, claiming:

“I improved in the way that I accept more when a weekend is not going exactly the way I want. Whereas in the past, if things were not going exactly the way I want, if the car was not exactly the way I wanted, I was trying to find something within the car that was not there, and that was pushing me to do mistakes.

“That was pushing me also sometimes to do something really good when things were not there, but I felt like it was biting [me] more than it will reward me – and on that, I improved a lot."

Charles Leclerc ultimately finished the 2022 campaign in P2, and his title challenge ended prematurely due to a lack of car development and mistakes from his end in the first half such as his crash in France while leading the race.

He could not keep up with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the second half as the Austrian team raced ahead of the field by the end of the season.