Bernie Ecclestone issues warning to Lewis Hamilton as he discusses Ferrari's priorities

Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has been warned by former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone that Ferrari will still be "hoping Charles Leclerc will get the job done" in 2025.

The British driver has joined the Maranello outfit after a 12-year stint with Mercedes. However, despite the weight he carries as one of the most successful drivers in the sport, Ecclestone believes that Ferrari will still be favouring his Monegasque teammate.

During an interview with Reuters, Ecclestone discussed the upcoming 2025 constructors' championship, commenting:

"You'd have to obviously think McLaren and I'd like to see Ferrari win."

He added that he feels Leclerc has more of a chance of winning than his new teammate, Hamilton. 

"He's been there all the way through so they are hardly going to dump him for Lewis. I'm not saying Lewis isn't possible, just that they will not stop looking after and hoping Leclerc's going to get the job done."

Ferrari has continuously portrayed Leclerc as the future of the team, and his performance in 2024 only solidified this further when he secured his first home victory in Monaco, as well as in front of the passionate Tifosi at Monza.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Getty Images

It will be interesting to see the dynamic within the team in 2025. Team principal Fred Vasseur has a long relationship with both drivers having been Leclerc's team chief at Sauber for his rookie F1 season in 2018 and winning Lewis Hamilton's GP2 championship in 2006 with ART Grand Prix.

Speaking about what he feels Hamilton will bring to the Italian outfit, Vasseur previously explained to Autosport:

“I am convinced that Lewis will come with his own experience, with the background of 18 years in F1, with a couple of titles and so. And it will be a real push to keep this mindset, to try to do a bit better everywhere.

“I perfectly remember with Lewis in 2005-06 that he was already like this, pushing on the small details,” he added, referring to his time leading the ASM/ART outfit in junior single-seaters. Racing for the French team, Hamilton dominated the 2005 F3 Euro Series and the 2006 GP2 Series – F2’s predecessor.

“At the end of the day, if you have a look, I think that on average the delta between McLaren and us in qualifying was a couple of hundredths, and we are really at this stage, also with Red Bull and Mercedes, that we are speaking about details.

“We really need to have this kind of mindset to chase the last one-thousandth in every single area and I think Lewis will be a good asset for this also.”