F1 fans disagreed with Lewis Hamilton's claims that the current Ferrari driver lineup, including Charles Leclerc, is "the strongest ever" in the sport. The seven-time F1 world champion has already had a taste of the challenge ahead of him in the 2025 season after driving the SF-25 at the official pre-season test in Bahrain last week.
The British driver joined the Italian team from Mercedes in January earlier in the year after announcing the move last February. Hamilton, who won six of his seven driver's titles at the German team, switched bases to win an elusive eighth world championship in red.
In the driver's presentation at the Scuderia Ferrari HP event in Milan, Lewis Hamilton made a bold statement regarding his teammate Charles Leclerc and himself and reflected:
"We are the strongest pairing Formula 1 has probably ever had."
F1 fans took to social media to give their reactions to Lewis Hamilton's comments on X, with one fan claiming:
"Don’t listen to him….he lies."
"Maybe but @Max33Verstappen and @Charles_Leclerc‘s pairing will be stronger when it happens," another fan wrote.
"Of the recent times for sure, but not ever. We had Prost and Senna," said a fan.
Here are some more reactions:
"Nope. Alonso and Button were stronger along with Alonso and Raikkonen," suggested another.
"Charles and Carlos were stronger," wrote another.
"Charles is probably one of the three strongest drivers in the same team as Lewis, but in my opinion, he is the most talented teammate Lewis will have. The best driver pairing, however, was Prost and Senna," claimed another.
Charles Leclerc gives his take on Lewis Hamilton's situation as a Ferrari driver
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc claimed that Lewis Hamilton's situation of joining the Italian team was different than his, given the Brit's experience in the sport.
Speaking at the event, the Monegasque reflected on his new teammate an said:
“For Lewis, an Italian team is pretty new to him, but he has achieved so much and he arrives here as a legend of the sport. It’s really cool to see what it was like for him to have so much success in other teams and the way they used to work, so on that we’ve learned a lot, and it was really exciting to see how happy and excited he was about the whole thing."
“For me, that meant that the off-season was a bit more in the shadow, but I enjoyed it. I focused on myself, I’m pushing at the maximum to be ready for the first race, and I’m really looking forward to this year. I’m hoping that we’ll start the year in a more positive way compared to last year,” he added.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will race competitively alongside each other in the same car for the first time next weekend in Melbourne.