"It will be the end of Lewis Hamilton" if he's outpaced by Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, claims Dutch racer

Dutch racer Mike Hezemans felt that it would be the end of Lewis Hamilton's career if he got outpaced by Charles Leclerc just like he did against George Russell. The festivities and hype around the British driver joining Ferrari have been all over the racing community.

That kind of hype has not been seen before, as every Hamilton moment is going viral on social media. It began with the driver first meeting the team and then with him meeting the loyal Ferrari fans at Maranello. The driver has joined the team to achieve his 8th world title, a record that would help him surpass Michael Schumacher in terms of the most titles won by a driver.

However, there are doubters as well who are pointing to how Hamilton fared at Mercedes in his last season with the team. The British driver was comprehensively outperformed by his young teammate George Russell. Moving to Ferrari, the 'teammate challenge' would still be there.

Instead of Russell in the other cockpit, it would be Leclerc trying to win his first career title as well. Talking about the potential dynamics at Ferrari, Mike Hezemans said that if Lewis Hamilton does end up losing to Leclerc, that would be it for him. He told RacingNews365:

"Lewis Hamilton was, to be honest, beaten by George Russell, so staying at Mercedes doesn't really help. Maybe it will benefit him now that he's going to Ferrari. He's still really fast in the races, but it just didn't work in qualifying."

He added:

"It could well be that the Ferrari suits him better and that he is doing better in qualifying. But if he is really being outpaced, now by Charles Leclerc ... Then he has a problem and I think it will be the end of Hamilton."

Lewis Hamilton was not hampered by Mercedes keeping information from him

When suggested that the 7x world champion could have been possibly hindered by Mercedes keeping information from him and giving it to George Russell, the Dutch racer didn't buy into that notion.

Talking about how one could tell from the outside that the car was not the easiest, he said:

"That is difficult to say, but I know one thing for sure: those cars are really the same. It is not that Russell had a better car than Lewis. That Mercedes was just so sensitive. You sometimes saw that Russell completely lost his way and then they almost did not get out of Q1. You never know. Maybe that Ferrari is much more forgiving and it will go well."

Lewis Hamilton has a multi-year contract with Ferrari as he heads into 2025. The driver is aiming for an 8th title and the distinction of winning with three different teams.