Charles Leclerc says it's "always good news" teaming up with a driver of Lewis Hamilton's calibre, as will be the case at Ferrari from the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Ferrari signed Hamilton before the 2024 campaign even started, with team principal Frederic Vasseur making the most of an exit clause in the long-time Mercedes driver's contract to entice him to Maranello.
Hamilton will replace Carlos Sainz and become Leclerc's fourth team-mate in F1, with the previous ones being Marcus Ericsson (at Sauber) and Sebastian Vettel.
The Monegasque is excited about this new challenge, which he sees as an opportunity to learn from F1's most successful driver in history, as he told Autosport in an exclusive interview.
After praising current team-mate Sainz, whom he branded "such an incredible driver", Leclerc said: "When you have a seven-time world champion joining the team, it's always good news.
"First, because it's super interesting and super motivating for me. Super interesting because I can learn from one of the best-ever Formula 1 drivers.
"And second, super motivating because I'm super motivated to show what I'm capable of doing against Lewis in the same car. So, for these two reasons, I'm really looking forward to it."
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Leclerc had signed a contract extension one week before Hamilton officially made his bombshell move to Ferrari – but the news was no surprise to him, so he knowingly committed his future to the Scuderia.
"I knew that it was a possibility and that it was likely because both sides wanted to make it happen," he clarified. "But I was happy with that, so I definitely knew that it was more likely than not.
"That was enough for me. I didn't ask many more details, also, because I'm not entitled to know all of this, and I don't want to know all of this, but everybody has always been super honest with me.
"If anything, it reassured me even more, because when you take a driver like Lewis Hamilton within the team, it obviously is a strong sign. I think that could be a positive thing seen from our side, and could bring some extremely talented people to the team. So I saw that as a positive, if anything."
There is an argument that Leclerc has everything to gain from this situation as far as his reputation is concerned. Being beaten by a seven-time world champion could be understandable, while becoming the first driver to clearly outperform Hamilton would obviously be historic.
However, Leclerc does not quite agree with this particular outlook on the situation.
"As a driver, I will live as bad whether I'm two tenths behind Lewis or two tenths behind whoever else," he explained. "For me, it's a pain I am suffering every time I'm behind my team-mate. You just want to be first, whatever situation you are in.
"When I was with Seb, for example, I was hating it so much when he was beating me, even though it was my first year with Ferrari and I knew he had a lot of experience. No matter the situation you find yourself in, you hate it when you are getting beaten."
Additional reporting by Roberto Chinchero
