Leclerc's 2025 Challenge: Can He Safeguard His Reputation?

Feb.17 - One of Italy's most celebrated Formula 1 journalists thinks Charles Leclerc's reputation is on the line in 2025.

Although just 27, this year will be Leclerc's eighth consecutive season on the grid. He retains a reputation as one of F1's very best drivers, but some have begun to question whether he will ever break through for a title.

This year, the Monegasque is being joined at Ferrari by seven time world champion Lewis Hamilton, 40.

Pino Allievi, whose time at La Gazzetta dello Sport dates all the way back to Enzo Ferrari's days, thinks Leclerc may well have a point to prove this year.

"The fact that someone said that Hamilton's arrival is good for Leclerc because it will allow him to grow is something that Charles probably didn't like," he wrote in his latest column for Autosprint.

"While Hamilton has already won so much, Leclerc has to beat his new teammate to defend his reputation at Ferrari and in Formula 1," he added. "A defeat would make Leclerc eternally second."

While Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur is famously close to Leclerc, also true is that Vasseur's relationship with Hamilton also stretches back to his junior-formula days.

"Charles has been described, probably a little prematurely, as 'il predestinato' - the predestined champion," Allevi continues.

"But someone at Ferrari has already described Hamilton as 'the Messiah', which suggests to me that the team may already have sided with him. That puts Charles in a tricky position," he concludes.

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