Lewis Hamilton had words with Charles Leclerc at Bahrain GP after ‘devastating’ blow
Lewis Hamilton had words with Charles Leclerc at Bahrain GP after ‘devastating’ blow
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will be teammates at Ferrari in 2025, having been rivals ever since Leclerc joined the Formula 1 grid in 2018 as a rookie with Sauber
The new Formula 1 season gets underway tomorrow in Bahrain, with Lewis Hamilton set for his final year with Mercedes.
The seven-time F1 world champion has agreed a blockbuster move to Ferrari in 2025, which will see him partner Charles Leclerc. And back in 2019, Leclerc looked set to pick up his first ever race win at the Bahrain Grand Prix before an engine problem saw him pipped by Hamilton.
With just nine laps to go, Leclerc’s engine issue saw Hamilton pass him and he ultimately ended up finishing third. However, the Brit offered some words of encouragement to his then rival at the time, revealing he went to speak to Leclerc after the race.
“You have to take it as it comes,” Hamilton said. “This is a great result for the team, but this guy here [Leclerc] has got wins in him. Congratulations to him.
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“I had to go and see Charles because he did such a great job. I’m sure it was a devastating result for him because he’d done the job to win. We were lucky. This guy has a lot of race wins coming in the future.”
Leclerc went on to pick up his first race win later that year in Belgium and the 26-year-old is now looking forward to racing alongside Hamilton in 2025. “Well, obviously these kind of deals are not finalised overnight, so it takes of course time,” Leclerc said.
“I was aware of those discussions before signing my [new] deal. It didn’t come out as a surprise after signing. For the rest, I don’t want to comment on it much, mostly out of respect for Carlos. We’ve had great years together and we have one more together to do.
“We will do absolutely everything to finish on the highest note possible. Pbviously Lewis is an incredible driver, the most successful in history, with a lot of experience as well, which he will bring to the team and obviously myself, which is a good thing.
