Fred Vasseur: “Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc won’t be best friends or enemies”. Fred Vasseur outlines the path for coexistence between Ferrari’s two drivers.

Neither friends nor enemies
There is curiosity about the power dynamics and relationships that will develop within the Ferrari garage with Lewis Hamilton joining Charles Leclerc. In these first weeks at Maranello, the British champion has dominated headlines and media coverage, while the Monegasque driver has seemingly taken a backseat—at least in terms of publicity. Given the British driver’s global popularity, this was expected, and for Charles Leclerc, the best way to regain the spotlight will be through his performances on track.

In an interview with Gaetan Vigneron of Belgium’s RTBF, team principal Frédéric Vasseur explained what he expects from the coexistence of his two drivers: “They are getting along very well, super focused and motivated, with great mutual understanding. But there has to be competition—I don’t want them to be best friends. Nor enemies, but above all, they must be rivals. It must stay that way; they should always push to outperform each other and be driven by that. In any case, their mindset is healthy and positive.” – the French manager pointed out.

Charles Leclerc reassures
The image of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton playing chess on their smartphones during the F1 launch event in London visually demonstrated a certain level of camaraderie between them. Over the years, despite sharing the track, they have never had any issues with each other.

On this, the Monegasque driver reassured RTBF: “I’m not a complicated person; I get along with 99% of the people I meet. And with Lewis, I’ve had a great connection from the start. We’ve always been very close and share common passions outside of F1. That hasn’t changed since he joined the team—things are going very well.” – he concluded ahead of the first round of the 2025 Formula 1 season, the Australian Grand Prix.