Former Red Bull driver makes his feelings crystal clear about the potential Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc battle at Ferrari

Former Red Bull driver Christian Klien feels that it is going to be fascinating to see how the Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc battle would turn out at Ferrari in 2025. The 7x world champion decided in 2024 that it was time for a change and made the switch to the Italian team.

Before that, he had been a successful part of the Mercedes family since 2013. The driver had won as many as six world titles with the team from 2014 to 2020. A bad run of results for the team from 2022 onward, where the car was not competent enough, led Lewis Hamilton to look for a new challenge.

The new challenge came in the form of Ferrari. The Italian team finished second in the constructor's championship behind McLaren last season and has been in good shape. At the same time, Lewis Hamilton is currently tied with Michael Schumacher at 7 F1 world titles, and a triumph with the Italian team would mean he creates history.

There's a bigger challenge as well at Ferrari for Lewis Hamilton, as the driver would be teamed up with Charles Leclerc, who is one of the best drivers in F1. It would be one of the more anticipated intra-team battles this season, as it could play a role in the title fight. In that context, former Red Bull driver Christian Klien felt that it came down to how the 7x F1 champion performed in qualifying. He told the Business of Winning podcast,

“If Lewis still has this edge in qualifying, we have to find out. It made it a little bit more tricky for him this year in the races, just starting a little bit further back. But if the car suits him, if the car is competitive again, I think he has this extra bit of just greatness in him that made him this multiple world champion."

He added,

“He is really good over a season. He knows how to win a championship. He knows how to bring the team behind him to collect the points over the season. So this is really fascinating, seeing how this turns out this year.”

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Charles Leclerc cannot be underestimated against Lewis Hamilton

While Klien praised Lewis Hamilton heavily, the former Red Bull driver was quick to point out that Charles Leclerc cannot be underestimated. The young Ferrari driver has been a part of the team since 2019. In the eyes of many, he is the best qualifier on the grid and has put together some very impressive laps. Talking about Leclerc, Klien said,

“I would never underestimate Charles. He’s very, very talented, very fast, especially on one lap in qualifying. He's able to put the car up the front of the grid.”

It would be interesting to see how the partnership unfolds between the two drivers this season, although a lot could depend on whether they're competitive against each other or not.