Charles Leclerc warned against signing his own 'death warrant' as Lewis Hamilton's teammate by F1 pundit

F1 pundit Marc Priestley believes Charles Leclerc will need to become the main player at Ferrari to avoid being overshadowed by Lewis Hamilton in 2025. Speaking to OLBG in an exclusive interview, the former McLaren mechanic reckoned that it will be critically important for the Monegasque driver to evolve into the lead role at Ferrari.

Paired alongside Sebastian Vettel in his first year at Ferrari, Leclerc managed to outperform the multiple-time world champion. However, the performance has not been similar with Carlos Sainz. In fact, the 26-year-old was criticized for a difficult start to his 2025 campaign, and the Maranello squad questioned if they had replaced the right driver.

Priestley, who worked with Hamilton in his debut year at McLaren, has known the Briton’s strengths and weaknesses and his complicated team dynamic with Fernando Alonso. The former F1 mechanic believes Charles Leclerc is not a rookie anymore and becoming a second fiddle to the 39-year-old could be detrimental to his career.

Explaining the expectations from Charles Leclerc in 2025 and beyond, Priestley said:

“Charles Leclerc can’t afford to let Lewis Hamilton come in and be the main man at Ferrari. Leclerc is reasonably experienced now, he has a few years under his belt and is not a rookie. If a driver accepts they’re going to be the second driver of the team, you sign your own death warrant and lose performance from that.”

“Leclerc needs to come into the team next year, thinking he’ll be better than Hamilton. F1 is a sport in which a huge part is technical with that car, but a huge part is the driver’s confidence in his own ability. My experience from driver pairings, particularly new ones, is they will be best of friends in the beginning and have massive respect for each other. But that can all change if Hamilton and Leclerc are competing for a title against each other," Priestley added.

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F1 pundit suggests Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton dynamic could evolve into Mercedes' Silver War scenario

Former F1 mechanic-turned-TV pundit Marc Priestley believes that the 'Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc' dynamic could evolve into a Silver War-like scenario. The rivalry between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg was known as the 'Silver War.'

The Mercedes duo had initially started with respect for each other as they grew up racing each other through the junior ranks. but their relationship deteriorated at the Brackley team when they fought for titles against each other. The only teammates that the Briton had a solemn dynamic with were Jenson Button and Valtteri Bottas.

Rosberg and Hamilton clashed several times on the track, even ending each other's races. Mercedes had to step in to warn the duo about the rules of engagement on track, particularly after their clash at the Spanish GP in 2016. The clash between the duo earned the popular tag of the "Silver War," describing their feisty battles on track.

Priestley feels that the 2025 Ferrari duo could also start with mutual respect but the dynamic could change if they were to fight for a title against each other.

Predicting a potential scenario at Ferrari, Priestley said:

“Leclerc and Hamilton will both start with massive respect for each other, but it could play out on the race track. Could Charles Leclerc be the next Nico Rosberg when Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari? You never know. A good example of that was the ‘duel in the desert’ in 2014, they battled and swapped positions multiple times."

“They got out of their cars and joked about it, high-fived each other and said how great of a race it was. But that didn’t continue for very long because there was a championship at stake, the guy who you’re hugging early in the season becomes your enemy. Rosberg and Hamilton had great respect towards each other until they became rivals in a championship, and the same could happen with Leclerc," he added.

Hamilton has had a healthy dynamic with George Russell but the duo have clashed on track. However, the seven-time world champion and Russell have always resolved the matter off-track.

Charles Leclerc has had the respect of the Briton since his first season in Ferrari and has not had a record of clashing with his teammates. The 26-year-old has raced hard against his current teammate and Max Verstappen but has always managed to have a cordial and respectable dynamic with his contemporaries.

Another example of a teammate clash was that of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at McLaren. It was similar to the Mercedes' 'Silver War.'