Now that we know Lewis Hamilton is not retiring, Charles Leclerc can expect a progressively harder life at Ferrari.<\/p>\n
That is the prediction made by seven-time grand prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya. Lewis Hamilton<\/a> remains committed to Ferrari and Formula 1, and with Montoya seeing a \u201chuge effort\u201d from Hamilton to beat Leclerc, he feels a migration towards Hamilton\u2019s wishes will crank up the difficulty for Leclerc.<\/p>\n Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari: Life about to get tougher for Leclerc?<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/p>\n F1 2025 has not been the debut season at Ferrari which seven-time World Champion Hamilton expected. He is yet to finish on the podium, is 42 points behind Leclerc<\/a>, and at the Hungarian Grand Prix, hit a new low.<\/p>\n Hamilton was eliminated in Q2 at the Hungaroring \u2013 a venue where he claimed eight victories \u2013 while Leclerc scored his and Ferrari\u2019s first pole position of the season. That prompted Hamilton to call himself \u201cuseless\u201d and suggest Ferrari \u201cchange driver\u201d as he gave a frustrated debrief to Sky F1.<\/p>\n Pressed on those comments the next day, he added: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on in the background that\u2019s not great.\u201d<\/p>\n Such soundbites appeared ominous, added to an earlier social media post, which gave some fans reason to believe Hamilton was about to retire. Teasing an 8 August announcement<\/a>, it turned out not to be a retirement message, but rather the launch of a new non-alcoholic spirit from Almave, the company which Hamilton co-founded.<\/p>\n So, Hamilton is not retiring. To the contrary, Montoya sees the 40-year-old pushing hard to unlock the secret to beating Leclerc.<\/p>\n As that process continues, Montoya believes that Hamilton is the guiding voice which Ferrari will continue to listen to. Bad news for Leclerc.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s really happening is that Lewis is at a point where he wants to beat his team-mate. He\u2019s putting in huge effort,\u201d Montoya told AS Colombia.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking very hard, but the car isn\u2019t to his liking. The engineers are starting to understand, but they still don\u2019t fully grasp how difficult this car is to drive.<\/p>\n \u201cCharles looks very quick because he can handle the car\u2019s behaviour. I think that as Ferrari adjusts the car more to Lewis\u2019s style and he gets comfortable, life will get harder for Charles. So far, it hasn\u2019t been too tough for him, but we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc head-to-head in F1 2025<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates<\/a><\/p>\n