Lewis Hamilton has ‘taken’ Ferrari ‘away from Leclerc’, claims Villeneuve

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc

It has taken Lewis Hamilton all of three races to “take” Ferrari away from Charles Leclerc and make it his team, that’s according to Jacques Villeneuve.

Hamilton’s switch from Ferrari to Mercedes dominated the news cycle during F1 2025’s pre-season as the Briton’s many firsts in red were well documented.

Has Lewis Hamilton ‘taken’ Ferrari away from Charles Leclerc?

From the Instagram post of Hamilton standing outside of Enzo Ferrari’s red-doored house in a sharp suit, to his first laps in an SF-23 at the Fiorano circuit, and of course his debut run in his Ferrari F1 car, it all made headlines.

After all, it was one of the hottest storylines in Formula 1.

And quietly in the background, Leclerc went about his duties with pundits’ opinions split as to whether or not he’ll appreciate Hamilton taking the spotlight.

But while initially it was seen as a good thing, the focus and the pressure switching from the Monegasque driver to the seven-time World Champion, Villeneuve believes it is now more than just the focus that’s on Hamilton, he has the team.

Although Leclerc has been ahead of Hamilton in the Grands Prix, it was the Briton who clinched Ferrari’s first pole position of the campaign and followed it up with their first win.

He was P1 at the Sprint in China, racing from lights to flag in a victory that also marked Ferrari’s inaugural Sprint victory.

And just like that, Villeneuve says, Hamilton made the team “his”.

“It’s not a short-term one-year project,” the 1997 World Champion told Sky. “So the first thing he has to do, which he’s already done – almost done, is take over the team. Make the team his. Take it away from Leclerc.

“He has to, because all winter the only talk was Lewis, Lewis and Ferrari. That put a little bit Leclerc in the shadow.

“But then he had to do it on the track. You got a pole, you got to win. The team is his.”

Told it was a bit soon to declare that, Villeneuve replied: “When you’re Lewis Hamilton, it goes quick.”

His fellow commentator Naomi Schiff believes Leclerc is aware of the shift, that playing a role in the driver’s frustrations when things haven’t been perfect.

“Charles has been their star boy for such a long time, the driver that they’ve invested in over years and years. The problem is they’ve brought in an even bigger star in the garage next to him, and that’s the challenge that he’s got,” she said.

“That’s why he’s being frustrated when the sessions aren’t going as he wants, because he knows he needs to outpace him on track to make sure, as Jaques says, he makes sure that team stays his.

“So at the moment, things maybe are not going the way he wants.

“Seeing the car, the plank wear, being underweight, they are on the limit. They’re having to extract everything out of it and run things on the edge to be competitive.

“I don’t know if that’ll continue. Of course, it’s a 24-race calendar, so these cars evolved very quickly over weekends.

“Let’s see what happens.”

For now, Leclerc is five points ahead of his team-mate in the Drivers’ standings, the Ferrari team-mates P6 and P8.