Hamilton or Leclerc could get upper hand – Rosberg

Feb.4 (GMM) A former Mercedes teammate thinks Lewis Hamilton’s “inner fire” may be lit by his move to Ferrari.

When they were paired together at Mercedes, they won every single drivers’ championship – three for Hamilton, and one (2016) for Nico Rosberg.

In total, the 40-year-old’s title tally now stands at seven.

“Lewis doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone anymore,” Rosberg, 39, told Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport. “And yet he has looked for a new way to push the boundaries – his new start at Ferrari.

“I know that he is filled with a deep love of motorsport and a burning desire to explore himself anew,” the German added.

While Hamilton’s move to Ferrari has attracted near-unprecedented global interest, there are also detractors predicting that Charles Leclerc will quickly get the upper hand.

However, Rosberg says the Briton cannot be underestimated.

“A change of scenery like he is having now can rekindle the inner fire in a racing driver,” he said. “Lewis is already a legend. I think that if he takes such a risk at this stage of his career, it says everything about his hunger for success.

“Lewis will grow with his task and develop further, as a racing driver and as a person.”

La Gazzetta dello Sport says Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur is determined that Hamilton and Leclerc will start the 2025 season as equal number ones – with a potential hierarchy to then be established as the season progresses.

Both Ferrari drivers for 2025 are highly rated.

Rosberg explained: “I see Max Verstappen as above all the other drivers. Perhaps the best of the young generation is George Russell, but Charles is at a similarly high level.

“Lewis, on the other hand, struggled quite a bit in 2024 and you got the impression that he didn’t know exactly why that was. If we start on this basis, then Charles will beat Hamilton, just as George beat Lewis.

“But be careful,” Rosberg warned. “Hamilton is the greatest of all time and I trust him to be able to return to his usual level. Then it could easily end up with him being slightly ahead of Leclerc at the end of the year.”