Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are now team-mates at Ferrari (Image: Getty)
sent a wholesome birthday message via his Instagram story on Tuesday, stating that he is ‘looking forward’ to teaming up with the seven-time world champion at this year.
Leclerc and Hamilton are now officially team-mates after the Brit’s contract started at the turn of the new year. The duo have the potential to form one of the deadliest driver line-up combinations of the modern F1 era, with a collective 113 Grand Prix victories shared between them.
Ahead of his first test session, which is reported to be taking place on either January 20th or 21st, Hamilton celebrated his 40th birthday. He is one of two active drivers to have passed that milestone, the other being Fernando Alonso.
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Celebrating the milestone, Leclerc posted a picture of himself and Hamilton in the F1 paddock to his story with the text: “Happy birthday @lewishamilton. Looking forward to start working together!”
Leclerc has been open with his admiration for Hamilton and hopes that the legendary Brit’s arrival will allow him to learn and develop further as a driver.
The former icon’s presence will also be the ultimate test for the Monegasque racer, who has enjoyed the upper hand against Sebastian Vettel and .
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Hamilton’s move is a major late-career upheaval for the Brit (Image: Getty)
“Lewis is the most successful driver in F1 history, and for me to be able to drive the same car as Lewis is, first, a huge opportunity to learn from the best ever, as well as a huge motivation to show what I’m capable of,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“So, I’m really excited about this new challenge. And we have a great relationship as well.
“I have so much respect for Lewis and everything he has achieved and it’s definitely going to be a big moment of my career to be against Lewis, obviously working together to bring back on top. It will be incredible to see where I am compared to Lewis.”
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He added: “We all have our specialities; we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Obviously, in the case of Lewis, I’m pretty sure that there are very few weaknesses, but I can definitely learn from his strengths, so it’s going to be super interesting.”
For Hamilton, the match-up comes at a tough point in his career. The seven-time world champion was beaten 19-5 in qualifying by last year and will need to improve his consistency on Saturdays if he is to take the fight to one of F1’s one-lap specialists.