Red Bull Points Out Major Ferrari Risk After Lewis Hamilton Signing

Saajan Jogia | Jan 7, 2025

Oct 23, 2022; Austin, Texas, USA; Red Bull Racing Limited driver Max Verstappen (1) of Team Netherlands leads Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc (16) of Team Monaco and wins the U.S. Grand Prix F1 race at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has hinted at a major problem Ferrari could face after the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton's onboarding. Horner pointed out that Hamilton and Charles Leclerc's partnership could trigger friction since both drivers have the potential to be number one. At Red Bull, a conflict will not play out since Max Verstappen has been declared the number one driver while Liam Lawson, who joined this year, is to play the role of a supporting driver.

Hamilton joined Ferrari in search of his elusive eighth world title, having spent twelve years with Mercedes, where he contributed significantly to the team's eight world championship titles and won six of his seven championships. However, the current ground effect era turned out to be complex for most F1 teams, especially Mercedes, as it failed to develop an all-rounder title contender for Hamilton that could dominate the season.

At Ferrari though, Hamilton will likely not be the number one driver but will be treated on par with Leclerc, a point that Horner believes could set off troubles for Ferrari, while Red Bull remains safe in that aspect. Speaking to talkSPORT, as quoted by Motorsportweek.com, he said:

“We’re perhaps slightly different to other teams where we go: ‘Do you know what? Max Verstappen is the most valuable asset in Formula 1.

“He’s our lead driver. If you can get close to him, fantastic. But the reality is the expectation is for Max to win.

“A team like Ferrari next year, for example, are going to have two drivers that are going to be taking points off each other – and which horse do you back?

“You have to back both of them, but that sometimes becomes divisive within a team. Different teams have different approaches.”

However, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur clarified towards the end of the 2024 season that he was unconcerned about the potential challenge between the drivers and in fact perceives it to be a good thing for performance, revealing the positive relationship between Leclerc and Carlos Sainz as a prime example. When asked if he thought it was a good problem to have, he said:

“Yeah, I prefer to fight for one, two than for 19, 20, this is clear.

“And I think it’s also part of the performance, clearly.

“The last two years I let them race on track and it was for the benefit of the team, because the emulation that we created like this was part of the recovery when we had tough times.

“And they had huge respect between them and we had a good moment this morning with the father of Carlos [in a farewell test at Fiorano] and it was very nice.

“It’s part of the performance of the team.”