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Formula 1’s past is littered with stories of drivers holding back and vetoing other drivers in their team, but that was not the case with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc before the Scuderia’s deal with Lewis Hamilton. Instead, Monegasque saw it more as an opportunity and less of a threat.
An infamous veto in F1 history was that of Alain Prost at Williams for Ayrton Senna in 1993, although recently the French four-time champion has publicly clarified this. But this is just one of dozens of such cases circulating as anecdotal Formula 1 legends.
However, such a thing never happened from Charles Leclerc in the case of hiring Lewis Hamilton next to him. Scuderia director Fred Wasser said the Monegasque not only did not try to stop the Briton’s move to the Maranello team in 2025, but saw it as an opportunity to prove his worth.
Leclerc has a relationship of particular mutual respect with Vasseur, but on the other hand the French Scuderia boss also has significant history with Hamilton – with whom he worked and won titles with the ART team in the smaller categories.
“Fred is not my bond,” said Leclerc humorously, “but I knew about the negotiations with Lewis very early on and having him by my side will be an extra challenge for me, given everything he has won.”the 25-year-old added.
Scuderia Ferrari director Fred Wasser at the 2024 Belgian GP
SCUDERIA FERRARI PRESS OFFICE
And Fred Wasser, for his part, explained: “Charles has always been on board with it (Hamilton’s arrival) and that has led me to push hard to achieve it. But, surprisingly, it wasn’t difficult to convince him to come to Maranello.
And when I realized that Charles was always positive towards Hamilton, because he understands that this is an opportunity for him, then I increased my pressure.”concluded the French director of the Scuderia.
The fact that he didn’t put up the slightest resistance does Leclerc credit, and shows that he sees Hamilton’s arrival in his team as an opportunity rather than a threat: “EI’m really happy that Hamilton is coming, and I’m looking forward to it because you have a lot to learn from whatever driver you have next to you. For me it will be a great opportunity to prove what I can do with the car“, the Monegasque explained.
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