Charles Leclerc's former engineer pulls back the curtain on how the driver reacted to Lewis Hamilton signing with Ferrari

Charles Leclerc's former race engineer, Xavi Marcos, has shared some intriguing details where he revealed that the Monagasque driver knew about Lewis Hamilton's negotiations with Ferrari. The 2024 F1 season started with a massive shock when it was announced that the seven-time world champion was joining the Italian team.

The move meant that Carlos Sainz was suddenly without a seat for 2025 while Mercedes was scrambling to find a replacement for Lewis Hamilton. On the other hand, there were questions raised about what Charles Leclerc felt about the move. The young driver has been a part of Ferrari for the majority part of his career.

In 2019, he debuted for the team and had slowly taken over the role of team leader. With Lewis Hamilton coming in, it would be the seven-time world champion who would be in the other cockpit to Charles Leclerc. With Ferrari, on one hand, already having a talent like Leclerc on the team, bringing Hamilton was a surprise for many.

While in front of the media, Charles Leclerc has expressed excitement over Lewis Hamilton coming to the team; his race engineer, Xavi Marcos, has revealed that the driver was always kept in the loop when the negotiations were happening. As quoted by Racingnews365, Marcos claims that the driver knew all along and wasn't surprised when the announcement was made. He said,

"Charles handled that news well. He was always aware of the situation, of the negotiations, so it did not come as a surprise to him. Everyone was quite professional about it. He actually immediately thought about the things he could learn from Lewis and how he himself could grow from his arrival. That is the correct approach in motorsport."

2025 foundations strong for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc

Ferrari and Charles Leclerc had a strong second half of the 2024 season where the driver won a couple of races. The team had solved a lot of issues with the car and it made the entire combination more formidable than it was at the start of the season. Looking ahead to the 2025 F1 season, Xavi said (via the aforementioned source):

"I think the basics are really good. The car was also very strong in 2024, so the basis for success is there. The people who work in Maranello are also incredibly good and they have also done well with the drivers."

He added,

"We know what Charles is like now and although Lewis will need time to adapt, that is completely normal. The sooner he can do that, the better it will be for Ferrari and for him. But the team will know how to deal with that best."

2025 is going to be a very interesting season as there is potential of a battle between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc as well if the car is good enough to fight for the title.